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With studios fighting over who gets to adapt the Family Circus comic strip (note: this actually happened), you figure it was only a matter of time before Hollywood got around to making the most famous novel of the 20th century, the book Hunter S. Thompson used to type over and over in the hopes it would rub off on him. But unless you count the costume orgy we filmed in my van, The Great Gatsby hasn’t been a movie since Jack Clayton’s 1974 version starring Robert Redford, adapted by Francis Ford Coppola.  Well now Baz Luhrmann’s making it, which would be great news if his last film wasn’t Australia.

Luhrmann has officially given the starring role in The Great Gatsby to Carey Mulligan.  Mulligan was a late entrant to an elite list of actresses that Luhrmann met with while he conducted readings with Leonardo DiCaprio, who’ll play Jay Gatsby. Tobey Maguire is expected to play his friend, Nick Carraway, who narrates the tale.

Luhrmann delivered the message to Deadline, and gave me the above photo he took of Mulligan during rehearsals, when she was in Daisy Buchanan mode on November 2. “I was privileged to explore the [Daisy Buchanan] character with some of the world’s most talented actresses, each one bringing their own particular interpretation, all of which were legitimate and exciting. However, I was thrilled to pick up the phone an hour ago to the young Oscar-nominated [for An Education] British actress Carey Mulligan and say to her: “Hello, Daisy Buchanan.” [Deadline]

Told from the perspective of a rich dude who finds himself running with a circle of even filthier rich dudes who get drunk and bang each others’ girlfriends, many say the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic was a precursor to later Josh Schwartz shows such as The OC and Gossip Girls.

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