With the exception of his bawdy, brash musical Moulin Rouge, I'm a Baz Lurhmann tragic. Strictly Ballroom is one of my favourite movies and even Australia has a certain charm, if you let it wear you down to its level. So I've been on board the Baz Luhrmann-Great Gatsby train from day one, even declaring to all and sundry that this was the film he was born to make.
So it's very exciting to hear the (probably inevitable) confirmation that The Great Gatsby will not only play but open the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, marking Luhrmann's third turn at the prestigious festival, following Ballroom and Rouge in previous years.
Of course, as everyone who studied the book in school would know, Gatsby is the masterpiece novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald - some would call it the great American novel. Suffice to say there's more than a few literature fans that could have their feathers either preened or ruffled by Luhrmann's extravagant vision, which some say strays from the novel's themes.
The movie will screen May 15 at the Grand Theatre Lumiere of the Palais des Festivals, out of competition in the Official Selection. The film will screen in glorious 3D.