Mike Fleming

Though director Baz Luhrmann wanted Ben Affleck to play Tom Buchanan in his 3D update of The Great Gatsby, the actor won’t be taking part in the movie adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald literary classic. Luhrmann offered Affleck the role in early April and courted him hard. The problem was, the film will shoot in Australia, and the scheduling just didn’t match up on Argo. Affleck is committed to direct that film, about the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, in the Middle East. They tried to work it out but ultimately couldn’t.

So far, Luhrmann has commitments from Leonardo DiCaprio to play Jay Gatsby,  Carey Mulligan to play Daisy Buchanan, and Tobey Maguire to play Nick Carraway. Warner Bros is in talks with Isla Fisher to play Myrtle, the wife of a gas-station owner who is cheating with Buchanan. Luhrmann is looking for another actor to play him. Word is he’s trying to get Australian actors for some of the roles because it helps the film’s financial situation. Luhrmann, who wrote the script with Craig Pearce, is producing with his Luhrmann/Bazmark Films partners Catherine Martin and Catherine Knapman, and Red Wagon partners Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher.