Baz Luhrmann’s long-gestating adaptation of The Great Gatsby has finally cast its Daisy Buchanan in Carey Mulligan, the new go-to actress for conveying pampered aristocracy now that Keira Knightley has folded in upon herself. Actually, before Knightley disappeared forever into the second dimension, she auditioned for the role of the manipulative, crying-on-the-inside, "beautiful little fool" socialite who seduces and torments Leonardo DiCaprio’s wealthy loner with her fickle, finance-based affections, alongside other predictable names such as Natalie Portman, Blake Lively, Scarlett Johansson, and Amanda Seyfried, but ultimately Luhrmann saw all of these women and decided they were all peasants. Filthy peasants. Anyway, Deadline reports that Luhrmann called Mulligan with the news while she was at the Fashion Council Awards, whereupon she “burst into tears on the red carpet in front of Karl Lagerfield and Anna Wintour,” both of whom no doubt recoiled in reptilian horror at the vulgar discharge of salty liquid from a human face. Oh, and Tobey Maguire is playing Nick.
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