The Great Gatsby was supposed to be part of Leonardo DiCaprio’s one-two Oscar punch last Christmas. With a Dec. 25 release date, it would have pitted him against himself in Django Unchained. But the film was abruptly shifted to this summer last August.
In a statement, Dan Feldman, Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution, said: “Based on what we’ve seen, Baz Luhrmann’s incredible work is all we anticipated and so much more. We think moviegoers of all ages are going to embrace it, and it makes sense to ensure this unique film reaches the largest audience possible.”
Some felt the date shift might have meant the film was in trouble. But according to the Los Angeles Times, the film was delayed so that producers could complete the 3D affects.
Well, the film is now being released May 10 and Warner Bros. has just dropped six new posters ahead of a new trailer later this week. Check ‘em out and let us know what you think in the comments.
Before Robert Downey Jr., Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt were huge stars, they had to slug it out like a D-lister. Some of their early audition footage can be yours, but we’re not sure you’d want to own any of it.
UPDATE: Julien’s Auctions withdrew videos of celebrity audition tapes after SAG-AFTRA threatened legal action.
Honestly, who can say their life has been embarrassment-free? Nobody. But luckily for us mere mortals, no one has been around to capture our awkward moments – especially the dreaded job interview you may have bombed.
Unfortunately for Hollywood’s A-listers, their early flubs exist on film somewhere and now, thanks to three forward-thinking casting directors, you can purchase some of their cringe-inducing audition tapes.
Darren Julien and Martin Nolan of Julien’s Auctions told the Today show that the casting agents wanted to remain anonymous because they are very private people.
“It’s for the retirement fund,” Nolan told host Matt Lauer.
Up for grabs are tapes of Leonardo DiCaprio auditioning for the role of Ponyboy in a TV version of The Outsiders. And how about this for a slap in the face. Apparently Robert Downey Jr., Brad Pitt and Keanu Reeves all tried out for the part that was ultimately played by Billy Baldwin in Backdraft. In case anyone wants to keep score, one of Baldwin’s most recent film roles was alongside Edward Furlong in the box-office juggernaut, Remnants.
I love Pitt, but his audition for the role of Brian McCaffrey was really awful.
There are also a slew of try-outs from 1993′s Jurassic Park available, including one from a very young looking Gwyneth Paltrow.
Julien estimates those tapes will fetch $2,000-$4,000.
Check out some of the clips below and let us know whose audition impressed you the least. If anything, it should make you feel a little better about the possibilities of what tomorrow might bring.
Quentin Tarantino never pulls any punches. He also has a pretty impressive oeuvre.
Let’s count ‘em off. There was 1992′s Reservoir Dogs, 1994′s Pulp Fiction, 1997′s Jackie Brown, 2003 and 2004′s Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, 2007′s Death Proof, 2009′s Inglourious Basterds and this year’s Django Unchained.
He has also written True Romance and Natural Born Killers, and directed segments of Four Rooms and Sin City.
So he’s no Marty Scorsese, but that’s a fairly critic-proof body of work. Fans seem to like it too.
But during a roundtable alongside Ben Affleck, Ang Lee (Life of Pi), Gus Van Sant (Promised Land), David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) and Tom Hooper (Les Miserables) with The Hollywood Reporter, the director was asked if he had to pick one, which film was his worst?
Turns out his answer is Death Proof. “Death Proof has got to be the worst movie I ever [made],” Tarantino said. “And for a left-handed movie, that wasn’t so bad, all right? — so if that’s the worst I ever get, I’m good.”
Death Proof starring Kurt Russell was released in 2007 as part of the Grindhouse double-bill with Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror. Critics didn’t exactly hate it, but audiences didn’t flock to the threatre and it ended up being the director’s first flop.
Tarantino also said he doesn’t plan to keep directing indefinitely. “I don’t intend to be a director deep into my old age,” he revealed.
And part of the reason is the switch by the filmmaking community towards shooting digitally.
“I can’t stand all this digital stuff,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “This is not what I signed up for.”
So what will he do? Well, he might just end up directing a mini-series for HBO. “I’d rather just write one of my big scripts and do it as a miniseries for HBO, and then I don’t have the time pressure that I’m always under, and I get to actually use all the script,” he said.
“The one movie that I was actually able to use everything — where you actually have the entire breadth of what I spent a year writing — was the two Kill Bill movies ’cause it’s two movies. So if I’m gonna do another big epic thing again, it’ll probably be like a six-hour miniseries or something.”
Do you have a fave Tarantino film? Was Death Proof really his worst film? Should he direct Kill Bill Vol. 3 next? Let us know in the comments.
Tarantino’s latest film, Django Unchained, with Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio, will be released Dec. 25.
