Jason Clarke, The Chicago Code star who has more forehead than anyone wants or needs, has joined the cast of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, according to Variety. He’ll play George Wilson, one of the few wholly sympathetic characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel.
George Wilson is the put-upon mechanic husband of Myrtle (Isla Fisher). However his wife is having an affair with the filthy rich but feckless Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). In turn the titular Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) is desperately is love with Tom’s wife, Daisy (Carey Mulligan). Got all that? If not, luckily Tobey Maguire will play the narrator of the story, Nick Carraway, who will explain it all to us.
It is no coincide that Baz Luhrmann is leaning towards Australian actors, such as Clarke, Fisher and Edgerton, for roles – and it’s not just patriotism – as with the movie due to shoot Down Under this autumn, a certain percentage of the cast and crew needs to be from the country in order to secure tax breaks. They are very good actors too though, so it’s not like Luhrmann’s having to scrape the bottom of the barrel just to get extra money.