Australian actor joins Baz Luhrmann’s update of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic.
Joel Edgerton (‘Animal Kingdom’) has landed the role of Tom Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby,’ joining Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Isla Fisher and fellow Australian Elizabeth Debicki.
Commenting on the casting, Lurhrmann had the following to say:
“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. Any wonder, it has been a long and thorough journey. The simple truth is that Joel came into our rehearsal space in New York and fulfilled all of the above criteria, and then some.”
Ben Affleck was originally lined up to play Buchanan for Luhrmann, but he had to turn it down due to a scheduling conflict with his next directorial effort, ‘Argo.’