As the case has been made abundantly clear, “The Great Gatsby” is going for broke in the big screen, 3D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s classic novel. Of the biggest sticking points for those still on the fence about the movie is Baz Luhrmann‘s choice to go with contemporary music (with a soundtrack overseen by Jay-Z), adding some modern swagger to the Jazz Age tale. We’ll know in a few weeks if it all works, but an early taste has arrived.
Billboard has unveiled a 30-second preview of UK EDM act Nero‘s “Into The Past.” Ff you’re thinking they are just some hire by a consultant to help Luhrmann fill out the music on his movie, guess again. “We heard last summer that two of our tracks from Welcome Reality were being used as temporary sound beds in the film. A little after that, Baz came to our studio in L.A. and we talked about writing original music for those parts of the movie,” band member Dan Stephens told the magazine.
“We worked closely with Baz to write two pieces for the movie using some elements and themes from Craig Armstrong‘s score. We also added some of the electronic sounds we’d used to other cues in the film to give some continuity to the overall score,” he added, noting that “Into The Past” “…is based around one of the central themes of the story, that of memory and Gatsby’s drive to reshape past events.”
Not only was Luhrmann using their tunes in early stages to temp score the film, Nero member Joseph Ray took it upon himself to get reacquainted with the story too. “…I actually watched the Robert Redford version to remind myself of the plot. But it’s such an evocative and memorable book it all came back very quickly.”
But one version he likely didn’t watch was the 1926 silent version with Warner Baxter and Lois Wilson as Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. The complete film has been lost to the ages, but snatches of footage still remain and EW has dug up some of it, which has landed on YouTube. (There is a 1949 version of “The Great Gatsby” as well, though rights issues appear to be holding that up from seeing the legal light of day).
So until May 10th arrives, see how far “The Great Gatsby” has come from the silent edition to the EDM infused 2013 take.