A director's eclectic ear
Seldom does a blockbuster movie have to compete for ink with its own soundtrack, but when it comes to movies by Baz Luhrmann, 鈥淭he Great Gatsby鈥� director, it happens frequently. Mr. Luhrmann has proved, time and time again, his mastery of infusing classic story lines with contemporary rhythms, remaining true to historical settings even as he connects the score to modern audiences in unexpected ways.聽
His radical reworking of 鈥淲illiam Shakespeare鈥檚 Romeo + Juliet鈥� announced a unique new visionary as a director of both image and music. The 1996 film moved the story locale from Verona, Italy, to modern suburbia, with a soundtrack to match, featuring Radiohead, The Cardigans, and other hot acts of the day. The soundtrack album went platinum five times, the second-highest selling album of any kind that year.
Toulouse-Lautrec鈥檚 19th-century Paris might not exactly spur thoughts of David Bowie, Massive Attack, and Christina Aguilera, but those popsters heated up the soundtrack of Luhrmann鈥檚 next hit film, 鈥淢oulin Rouge!,鈥� which also spawned a Grammy-winning single, 鈥淟ady Marmalade.鈥�
The director was already thinking of a hip-hop influenced score from the earliest conceptual stages of his take on F. Scott Fitzgerald鈥檚 鈥淭he Great Gatsby.鈥� Why hip-hop, when vintage jazz would seem to be the natural choice for the novel鈥檚 Roaring 鈥�20s setting? The director explained to MTV News, 鈥淚 wanted the modern audience to get the feeling of what jazz may have felt like in the 鈥�20s 鈥� dangerous, intoxicating, thrilling.鈥�
鈥淕atsby鈥� leading man Leonardo DiCaprio told Vanity Fair that he introduced Luhrmann to the godfather of all things hip-hop, Jay-Z, and minutes after they met, as the director began explaining his vision for the film鈥檚 music, Jay-Z interrupted his new acquaintance. 鈥淲e shouldn鈥檛 be talking about it. We should be getting on and doing it. It鈥檚 that important, to make the connection between jazz and hip-hop, that this is the African American storytelling street music of our time,鈥� he said, according to Vanity Fair.
Soon Jay-Z and Luhrmann had enlisted an A-list army of talent for the soundtrack: Hip-hoppers Jay-Z, Andr茅 3000, and will.i.am got things rolling; Beyonc茅 contributed a sultry vocal; red-hot Grammy winner Gotye brought a killer track, as did indie music queens Lana Del Rey and Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine, frenetic rocker Jack White, and Roxy Music crooner/jazzbo Bryan Ferry.
Whether or not classic plus modern makes for a great 鈥淕atsby,鈥� it鈥檚 worlds away from all that jazz.
