The-Great-Gatsby-PosterThere are so many reasons to look forward to Baz Luhrmann’s anticipated The Great Gatsby. Bringing the classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald to the big screen, and for the first time in 3D, the film promises to be one of the summer’s biggest blockbusters.

Warner Bros. have done a brilliant job of transitioning the movie from an awards contender late last year to a summer blockbuster, and it looks like it’s going to have been well worth the wait.

Luhrmann has been collaborating with Jay-Z, who serves here as executive producer for the film’s score. And with the US release date fast approaching, the first sampler for the soundtrack has surfaced online, featuring a host of the new music we saw in the latest trailer and more.

From the uniquely imaginative mind of writer/producer/director Baz Luhrmann comes the new big screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby. The filmmaker will create his own distinctive visual interpretation of the classic story, bringing the period to life in a way that has never been seen before, in a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role.

“The Great Gatsby” follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super-rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, and Carey Mulligan star as the leading trio. And they’re joined by a brilliant ensemble, led by Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, Elizabeth Debicki, and Amitabh Bachchan.

Luhrmann is directing from a script he co-wrote with past collaborator Craig Pearce (Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet).

The snippets we hear below of Lana Del Rey’s Young and Beautiful and Florence and the Machine’s Over The Love are simply amazing. I loved them both when we heard them in the trailer, and cannot wait to hear them in full next month.

The soundtrack is also set to include 100$ Bill by Jay-Z, and a cover of Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black by Beyoncé and Andre 3000. The record will be released in the US on May 7th, and will be available for pre-ordering later this month, from April 23rd.

The Great Gatsby will be released in 3D on May 10th in the US, with its UK release date set for the following week on 16th May, a day after opening this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Here’s the soundtrack sampler to get you in the mood.

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