re: M/TV Board's "Great Gatsby" Excitement Level

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Every adaptation has been shitty. This one will be as well.

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I've got a VHS copy of the 40s version starring Alan Ladd and it's so much different than the book that it's almost unrecognizable.

I realize that the '73 version with Mia Farrow and Robert Redford was panned and didn't get good press, but I actually liked it. I thought it stayed true to the book as much as practicable. Before I saw it, I was little disappointed about the casting of Mia Farrow, but the more I've watched over the years, the more I really like her performance.

The two people who were going to play the role before they cast Farrow were Ali Magraw and Natalie Wood. Magraw's husband was the producer, and right before the final casting, he found out that she had been sleeping with Steve McQueen, so she was out. Natalie Wood got pregnant (during the filming Farrow found out she was pregnant, which is why she had so many flowing dresses). While I'm a HUGE Natalie Wood fan, I just don't see her in this role. By '73 she was just a little too old, and I just don't see her pulling of the subtle ditziness of Daisy.


Oh, and for the record --