Carey Mulligan is Baz Luhrmann’s Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby

“Who wants to go to town?” demanded Daisy insistently.

Baz Luhrmann has chosen Carey Mulligan to play Daisy in his adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 classic, The Great Gatsby. Deadline has the exclusive news and reports with appropriately glamorous detail:

Mulligan was on the reception line for The Fashion Council Awards in New York when she got the call on her cell phone from Luhrmann, just a few minutes ago. She burst into tears on the red carpet in front of Karl Lagerfield and Anna Wintour. This all occurred shortly after Luhrmann showed the audition footage to Sony Pictures Entertainment execs Amy Pascal and Doug Belgrad, who were impressed by Mulligan’s command of the character played in the 1974 film by Mia Farrow.

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.

Expect the casting of the other prominent roles to be announced with similar drama and fanfare, because if Baz Luhrmann is anything he’s a showman. The photo of Mulligan above was taken by Luhrmann himself during workshop rehearsals last week. (thanks to phantom for the link)

“Who wants to go to town?” demanded Daisy insistently. Gatsby‚Äôs eyes floated toward her. “Ah,” she cried, “you look so cool.”

Their eyes met, and they stared together at each other, alone in space. With an effort she glanced down at the table.

“You always look so cool,” she repeated.

She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. His mouth opened a little, and he looked at Gatsby, and then back at Daisy as if he had just recognized her as some one he knew a long time ago.

HuffPo says the 1974 Robert Redford – Mia Farrow version of The Great Gatsby is one of The 10 Worst Novel Adaptations of All Time. Too harsh?