Baz Luhrmann is really pushing ahead with casting on The Great Gatsby, with Isla Fisher now entering negotiations to play Myrtle Wilson, one of the central characters in F Scott Fitzgerald’s tale of wealth, privilege, love and tragedy.
So far, the Gatsby cast is coming together smoothly, with Leonardo DiCaprio playing the mysterious playboy Jay Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as writer and narrator Tom Carraway and Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, one of the social elite with little concern for how their actions affect others.
Fisher's Wilson is a woman who's married to a garage mechanic and who is having an affair with Daisy’s hubby, Tom. Her fate is more tragic than romantic when she’s killed by a speeding car driven by… Well, that would be telling.
Unfortunately for Luhrmann, he’ll have to find someone new to play Tom, as his first choice, Ben Affleck, will be busy off making his own latest directorial effort, Argo. The drama, which follows the CIA’s real-life efforts to rescue Americans from Iran in 1979 using a fake sci-fi film, is scheduled to shoot around the same time that Gatsby will be underway in Australia, so Affleck will be staying home.
But given the calibre of cast he’s locked in so far, we’re pretty certain Luhrmann will have a long list of backup actors to play Tom.