If you can think of a worse director to take on The Great Gatsby, feel free to leave it in the commens box. (Thanks to FOTEV Chris for the link.)
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In his recent TEV guest review of Home Land, Jim Ruland called Sam Lipsyte the "funniest writer of his generation," and we're quite inclined to agree. We tore through Home Land in two joyful sittings and can't remember the last time we've laughed so hard. Lipsyte's constellation of oddly sympathetic losers is rendered with a sparkling, inspired prose style that's sent us off in search of all his prior work. In Lewis Miner's (a.k.a Teabag) woeful epistolary dispatches to his high school alumni newsletter ("I did not pan out."), we find an anti-hero for the age. Highly, highly recommended.
Uwe Boll?
Posted by: Busta | December 18, 2008 at 02:36 PM
Well, it could've been Uwe Boll. Or Lars von Trier.
Posted by: Ron Hogan | December 18, 2008 at 02:38 PM
I'm sure Michael Bay could do some horrible things to it....
Posted by: Jake | December 18, 2008 at 03:17 PM
If Tarkovsky isn't available, Clint Eastwood.
Posted by: John Shannon | December 18, 2008 at 03:23 PM
Darren Aronofsky
Posted by: Michael Mussman | December 18, 2008 at 04:08 PM
That it, I got it...wait for it...Michael Schumacher.
Posted by: DenverScribe | December 18, 2008 at 04:26 PM
Shoot, Jake beat me to Michael Bay. Second worst choice: James Cameron.
Posted by: Elizabeth | December 18, 2008 at 04:49 PM
not sure why lurhman is a terrible choice - the world being over, really??? a bit dramatic. I can think of a dozen or more directors who would be worse:
1.) Tony Scott
2.) Joel Schumacher
3.) George Lucas
4.) yes, Michael Bay
5.) Brett Ratner
6.) Bryan Singer
7.) Ridley Scott
8.) Steven Spielberg
9.) Michael Mann
10.) that's enough
Lurhman certainly not the best choice. My choices would be, in order to capture the character emotion better than the '74 version:
1.) Todd Field (who's slated to do Blood Meridian)
2.) Roman Polanksi
3.) Clint Eastwood was a good choice
That's about it. Yes, I got way too involved in this post. My apologies.
Posted by: JW | December 18, 2008 at 05:02 PM
I'd definitely second Brett Ratner as a worse choice. I don't think Baz is necessarily a bad choice, just an odd one. Like what if the Coen brothers did Great Gatsby? The thought blows my mind.
Posted by: K | December 18, 2008 at 05:21 PM
Worse than Baz? For The Great Gatsby?
How about:
Spike Lee? David Lynch? Paul Verhoeven? Todd Solondz? Tim Burton?
Posted by: Diana | December 18, 2008 at 06:54 PM
M. Night Shamalyan
Posted by: Matt | December 18, 2008 at 08:32 PM
I disagree with one director listed above. Personally, I'd pay top dollar to see the David Lynch version of The Great Gatsby.
Hell, just for the party scenes alone!
- I don't remember mention of any strung-out acid jazz band in the novel....
- Shhh... Just roll with it. Here comes the hydroplane!
Posted by: GCM | December 18, 2008 at 09:04 PM
LOL. The idea of Spike Lee doing The Great Gatsby is a good one. I don't think there is a director out there that could mutilate TGG more than he could.
Posted by: Fern | December 18, 2008 at 09:10 PM
Having recently seen Sam Mendes and Frank Miller utterly destroy literary masterpieces for the big screen (of which more anon and at length), I can safely declare that there are plenty of directors who can do much worse than Lurhmann.
Posted by: ed | December 18, 2008 at 09:45 PM
i actually think m. night might do alright - since it's not his story, but maybe that's what he needs.
although, what would it be like if Kubrick was here to do it? hmm.
Posted by: JW | December 19, 2008 at 12:02 AM
Nora Ephron
Posted by: O.R.S | December 19, 2008 at 01:12 AM
Okay: there's a world of difference between great directors with a distinctive style that doesn't intuitively match the source material (Aronofsky, Luhrmann, Kubrick, Spielberg, Eastwood) and bad directors whom I wouldn't trust with a thing.
I think the question we should be asking ourselves here is, whose directorial style is suited for Gatsby? I'll bet you we'll come up with a much shorter list.
Ang Lee?
For the record, the 1974 film starring Robert Redford didn't impress me either.
Posted by: Nicholas Tam | December 19, 2008 at 05:12 AM
From the article linked to: "He just paid tribute to his home country in the epic Australia..." - Many Australians, myself included, would dispute this point.
Having watched The Village, I can't countenance ever watching a film directed by M. Night again, and having seen what Kubrick did with King's The Shining (and in particular its female character), I would rather not think of his directing Gatsby.
I think Wong Kar Wai or Jean-Pierre Jeunet could do a great job of Gatsby. On the strength of Away From Her, Sarah Polley would do a much better job than many of the better known directors.
Posted by: Evie | December 19, 2008 at 06:29 AM
I would love to have seen what Ed Wood or Roger Corman would have done with GATSBY.
Posted by: Sarah | December 19, 2008 at 06:52 AM
okay, nicholas, yes, the directors i mentioned are not "bad" - their style does not suit this adaptation.
And Evie, my comment on m. night was a complete and utter joke - which is what I think of his storytelling.
Kubrick - who knows...
But, Sarah Polley - I think that could be fantastic. Away From Her is a great film.
Posted by: JW | December 19, 2008 at 06:59 AM
The 1974 version with Redford as Jay Gatsby was adapted by Francis Ford Coppola BUT directed by Jack Clayton.
Coppola would be an interesting person to direct -- a revisionist re-approach to his original adaptation.
At the same time, he seems to have lost much of his chops considerably since the decade-plus of superlatives that was the 1970's (up until Apocalypse Now). But since he was dying to do On the Road forever, why not take another cut at a classic?
Posted by: Tiffany Leigh | December 19, 2008 at 07:31 AM
John Woo
Posted by: Jim H. | December 19, 2008 at 07:33 AM
Mark, two words: Ron Howard.
Posted by: Laila | December 19, 2008 at 08:54 AM
Roland Emmerich.
Posted by: Michael O'D | December 19, 2008 at 09:28 AM
I was hoping for Crispin Glover.
Posted by: Jim | December 19, 2008 at 10:10 AM
forget the question. I want to see the Quentin Tarantino version of Gatsby (Uma Thurman as Daisy, naturally).
Posted by: tito | December 19, 2008 at 10:43 AM
May I humbly submit "McG"?
Posted by: Jack Pendarvis | December 19, 2008 at 12:52 PM
I think only the Farrelly Brothers could properly explore the vast potential for comedy in Gatsby.
Posted by: Mike Mc | December 19, 2008 at 02:18 PM
My sixth sense:
1. Jane Campion
2. Mike Leigh (yeah... improv that, Mike)
3. Todd Haynes (the closest to competant fidelity)
4. Lukas Moodysson (for bonafide irreverence and casual glimpses of pudendum).
5. Harvey Weinstein (His Directorial Launch)
Posted by: Sanjay | December 19, 2008 at 02:51 PM
A spanish one: Pedro Almodovar
Posted by: Vladimir Gonzalez | December 19, 2008 at 09:43 PM
Personally, I think any director would ultimately fail. There have been very few true great novels that I've loved on the screen. Two totally different media - one, a gauzy ambiguity, requiring us to join the writer to complete the vision, the other, images and thoughts directed and generally seared in stone. Both can be art, but they do not share the same language. Great novels, poor films.
Posted by: Paul | December 20, 2008 at 06:11 AM
Actually, if we're talking about distinctive directors for GATSBY, why not Alejandro Jodorowsky? (He almost made a version of DUNE.)
Posted by: ed | December 20, 2008 at 06:46 AM
Iron Man notwithstanding... Jon Favreau.
- Jim
The Results Are In! Blue Ink Defeats Black Ink, 31-24.
Posted by: Ink and Beans | December 20, 2008 at 07:32 PM
I'd kinda like to see the Russ Meyer version.
Posted by: Daniel | December 20, 2008 at 11:47 PM
Ratner, Ratner, Ratner
Posted by: Kati | December 21, 2008 at 08:11 AM
Maybe Baz could put Nicole Kidman in it and when she first sees Brad Pitt/Jay Gatsby she could say, "It's the drover!"
Posted by: Lauren Baratz-Logsted | December 21, 2008 at 12:12 PM
Stan Brackage
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