In a new film version of what is arguably the Great American Novel, a rising Australian has just replaced an American superstar. Then again, it is being shot on his home turf.
Deadline reports that "Animal Kingdom" star Joel Edgerton has beat out Luke Evans for the role of Tom Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann's epic, potentially 3D retelling of "The Great Gatsby," winning the right to replace Ben Affleck, who had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.
"In casting Tom one had to find an actor who could credibly be (as Fitzgerald describes him) 'one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven,' had five-star acting chops and in the big dramatic showdown scenes between Gatsby and Tom, hold the screen against Leonardo DiCaprio, in the appropriate age group," Luhrmann told Deadline.
Edgerton joins a star-studded cast: DiCaprio plays the enigmatic millionaire Jay Gatsby; Tobey Maguire the narrator and protagonist Nick Carraway; Carey Mulligan, Edgerton's on-screen wife Daisy Buchanan; (potentially) Isla Fisher as his mistress, Myrtle; and newcomer and fellow Aussie Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker.
A longtime star in Australia, "Animal Kingdom" has launched Edgerton's career into overdrive; he's releasing four films in 2011, including the upcoming "Warrior" with Tom Hardy. He's wrapping up on "The Odd Life of Timothy Green," with Jennifer Garner and Common; "Say Nothing" with Teresa Palmer; and "The Thing" with Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
For more, click over to Deadline.