Aussie actor Joel Egderton is kind of an interesting figures, as his name always seems to come up in connection with big projects, but he hasn’t landed that many, and as a result, isn’t as famous as he should be. Indeed to many, he’s still best known for playing Owen Lars in Revenge Of The Sith. However he should be getting a career boost this year with massive plaudits for Animal Kingdom, plus he’s got Warrior and The Thing coming up.
Now he’s up for another high profile movie, as Deadline reports he’s in final talks to play Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, a role that had previously been nabbed by Ben Affleck, before he stepped away to concentrate on directing Argo. He will join Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, Isla Fisher as Myrtle, and Australian newcomer Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker.
The film, which is written by Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, follows the lives of a bunch of rich folks in 1920s Long Island. Tom Buchanan is a rich dilettante, whose sporting glory days are behind him and who now spends his time being very pleased with himself and conducting an affair with a woman called Myrtle. However the main thrust of the plot concerns Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio) and his all-cosuming love for Tom’s wife, Daisy (Mulligan). She’s a rather shallow woman but Jay simply cannot get over her, having loved her since he was stationed near her hometown while in the army, and only buying a Long Island mansion to be near her. All of this is narrated (in the book at least) by Nick Carraway (Maguire), Daisy’s cousin who acts as an observor and commentator on the events that transpire amongst these wealthy people one summer.
Luhrmann says of Edgerton’s casting, “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.”
It probably doesn’t hurt either that he’s Australian, and as Aussie tax credits depend on having enough members of the cast and crew from Down Under, Joel certainly adds to the quota. There’s still no word though on exactly when the 3D flick will shoot.