Carey Mulligan to star in The Great Gatsby?

Australian director Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming feature The Great Gatsby has a new rumoured leading lady. According to Vulture, our favourite up-and-coming Brit Carey Mulligan is in talks to play the blonde beauty Daisy Buchanan.

Initial reports indicated that Scarlett Johansson had tested for the role, but conflicting schedules now see the Oscar-nominated star of An Education the lead contender.

The role of Daisy was famously played by Mia Farrow in the 1974 film directed by Jack Clayton and starring Robert Redford as the man himself, Jay Gatsby. The film is of course an adaptation of the much loved (and loathed by high schoolers) novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Considered an American classic, the story is set in 1922 both on Long Island’s North Shore and in New York City. Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner, is drawn into the fascinating and mysterious life of Jay Gatsby, a nouveau wealthy man who throws lavish parties at his mansion. Carraway soon discovers Gatsby’s parties are being thrown to entice Daisy, a teenage romance Gatsby is still holding onto.

Critiquing the American dream – that a poor man can work his way up from nothing – the story moves at a roaring 20s jazz age pace which should suit Luhrmann’s burlesque aesthetic. Aside from 2008’s Australia, a film which divided critics and audiences, Luhrmann has previously struck gold with his Red Curtain trilogy, Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge!.

Set to begin filming mid-2011 for a 2012 release, Carey Mulligan is the top candidate at this time to star opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.

Discuss: Is Ms. Mulligan a better choice than ScarJo?