The Great Gatsby Starring Leonardo DiCaprio to Open Cannes Film Festival

Leonardo DiCaprio will be walking the red carpet when the Cannes Film Festival opens on May 15, 2013. It was announced today by the festival press office that “The Great Gatsby,” directed by Australian director Baz Luhrmann, will open the festival out of competition in the glitzy Grand Théâtre Lumière of the Palais des Festivals.

The film will be screened in 3D, which marks only the second time for a 3D screening in the history of the festival. The first was Pixar’s “Up,” directed by Pete Docter in 2009.

Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel set during the roaring twenties, the story follows an enigmatic and nouveau riche bootlegger who hosts decadent parties at his Long Island mansion, and falls for the beautiful married socialite Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan).

Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), his neighbor and pal, records the millionaire’s rise and pursuit of the beautiful Daisy, whose husband is played by Joel Edgerton.

The red carpet should be a dazzling affair. In addition to the stars of the film, Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, and Jay-Z will grace the Croisette. As Luhrman did with “Moulin Rouge!,” which was set in the 1900’s but featured contemporary tracks, including music by Madonna, “The Great Gatsby” will have hip-hop music, with a score by media mogul and hip-hop artist-producer Jay-Z.

Leonardo DiCaprio has rarely been seen on the Croisette. He returns to Cannes for the first time since the 2007 presentation of “The 11th Hour,” a documentary on ecological issues, which the actor himself produced.

Luhrman said of the selection of his film in the opening spot: “It is a great honor for all those who have worked on ‘The Great Gatsby’ to open the Cannes Film Festival. We are thrilled to return to a country, place and festival that has always been so close to our hearts, not only because my first film ‘Strictly Ballroom’ was screened there 21 years ago, but also because F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of the most poignant and beautiful passages of his extraordinary novel just a short distance away at a villa outside Saint-Raphaël.”

Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures, the film was scripted by Baz Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce.

On the same day the movie opens at Cannes, “The Great Gatsby” will also open in cinemas nationwide. Both in France and internationally, the film will be distributed in 2D and 3D by Warner Bros. Pictures and in certain regions by Village Roadshow Pictures.

Luhrmann, 53, has twice been honored by the Festival de Cannes for “Strictly Ballroom” (Un Certain Regard in 1992) and for “Moulin Rouge!” which opened the festival in 2001.

Luhrmann should give “The Great Gatsby” some “Moulin Rouge!” pizazz. So far, numerous screen versions of the novel have not been successful. The 1974 movie starring Mia Farrow and Robert Redford, directed by Jack Clayton, with a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola, was beautiful to look at but inert.

The afterparty for “Moulin Rouge” was a lavish and extravagant affair Hollywood folk still talk about, so expect some fireworks and major celebrity wattage when “The Great Gatsby” lights up the Croisette.

Check out the trailer for “The Great Gatsby.”