When the first trailer for director Baz Luhrmann’s ambitious adaptation of the classic novel The Great Gatsby debuted online, many were jarred by the juxtaposition of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild” against the film’s period setting. The decision to use that song in the trailer wasn’t a complete shock, as Luhrmann has shown a propensity for populating his period films with modern music. He had no problem mixing Shakespeare with Radiohead in Romeo + Juliet and 1900s France with Madonna in Moulin Rouge!. Now, though, it appears that Luhrmann isn’t just repurposing existing songs for The Great Gatsby, but is having Jay-Z himself provide an original score for the film. Hit the jump for more details.
Rumors have swirled for months regarding the score and soundtrack for The Great Gatsby, with previous reports noting that Prince and Lady Gaga might be providing original songs for the film. Yesterday, singer/songwriter/producer Jeymes Samuel of The Bullitts fame took to Twitter (via The Film Stage) to confirm that he and Jay-Z are composing the film’s score:
No other details are known at this time, but I’m pretty excited to see what comes of this collaboration. Luhrmann isn’t exactly known for his subtlety as a filmmaker, and the trailers for The Great Gatsby promise a wildly ambitious and visually arresting iteration of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s American classic. t’s entirely possible that the whole thing may turn out to be a complete disaster, but I remain (maybe foolishly) overly optimistic.
