To start with On the Road, on the surface the cast looks impressive, Amy Adams, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Steve Buscemi, Elizabeth Moss, and Terrence Howard. On further inspection however, these actors play only the supporting characters. For some reason funding was drastically cut for this picture, despite being a benchmark of 20th century American literature, and the financial upside of this film can't be that great. All the major roles are cast with relative unknowns, Sam Riley (Brighton Rock) as Sal Paradise, Tom Sturridge (Being Julia, Pirate Radio) as Carlo Marx, and Garrett Hedlund (Tron Legacy, Friday Night Lights) as Dean Moriarty. Yes, Kristen Stewart also plays Marylou. A grouping of relatively hot young actors for sure, but I'm not convinced any of them have the background to pull this off, though I am hopeful. With a budget of only $25 million you can't really hope for a high caliber cast, beyond this, even even they had to take a pay cut to stay involved.
On to Gatsby. A much bigger budget Hollywood adaptation with the requisite big name stars and director. Baz Luhrman is really more known for musical pieces like Moulin Rouge and Strictly Ballroom and it should be interesting to see what he can do with a more understated storyline like Gatsby's. He's been doing mostly short films since the highly anticipated but uneven Australia and this is his jump back into big budget Hollywood, like $127 million big budget films. I'm not much of a DiCaprio fan outside of This Boy's Life and Basketball Diaries but I think he is perfect for this role of Jay Gatsby. Much like Catch Me If You Can and Titanic, I can envision him more as a rich Long Islander than I can as some sort of action star as in a Blood Diamond or Gangs of New York. I can't think of anyone better to cast in this role. For Daisy Buchanan, Carey Mulligan, probably my favorite current young actress today. This role was apparently incredibly sought out by the A list Hollywood crowd, Portman, McAdams, Hathaway, Seyfried, Wilde, Johansson, and even Alba were considered. I think this was a fantastic choice. For Nick Carraway, Tobey Maguire. I've never really understood how he has become so popular. Outside of Wonder Boys and the Ice Storm I've never really appreciated much that he has been in honestly. The role will reunite him with Mulligan who was also in Brothers with Maguire, but I think the other co-star of that film, Jake Gyllenhaal might have been a better choice. Maquire is closer to Sam Waterston in looks and demeanor though, the Nick Carraway of the 1974 Francis Ford Coppola written adaptation before this one. Unfortunately that film never really lived up to the hype either, despite an all star cast of the time with Redford, Farrow, Dern, and Black.
I'm sure I'll end up seeing both of these though I'd bet that Gatsby proves to be the real winner. Fitzgerald's work never really achieves the greatness it deserves on screen. Benjamin Button was a critical and commercial success of course, but I still think the Last Tycoon with DeNiro is my favorite Fitzgerald adaptation to hit the big screen.
