Elizabeth Debicki In 'The Great Gatsby': Australian Newcomer Grabs Jordan Baker Part

A star has been born. Or found, out in the Australian outback.

Newcomer and recent drama school Elizabeth Debicki has been cast as Jordan Baker, love interest of narrator/protagonist Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), in the upcoming big screen adaptation of "The Great Gatsby." Director Baz Luhrmann explained the unlikely casting of Debicki in a statement to Deadline:

"It was a surprising result, but Elizabeth's grasp of the material and her chemical connectivity to Tobey Maguire, in addition to her striking, athletic appearance, had us in a place where we were fully confident and ready to take the leap of giving the role of Jordan Baker to what, I guess, people would term 'a discovery,'" he said. "We are thrilled."

Speaking to the Australian website PerformersHub.au, Debicki spoke about her stratospheric rise from performing in a 10-years old performance of "CATS" to drama school to major motion picture, staying humble despite her gigantic new role.

"It all seems so outrageous that I will get an agent. I guess the bigger you dream, the further you have to fall if you don't get it, so it can be a bit of a scary thing to be that ambitious. But I was," she said.

Clearly, there will be no fall at all.

She did have some advantages: Luhrmann himself is Australian, and the film will be shot in their home country. Debicki joins a cast that, beyond Maguire, includes Leonardo DiCaprio as the enigmatic Jay Gatsby, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan and perhaps Isla Fisher as Tom Buchanan's mistress, Myrtle.

For more, click over to Deadline.

Comments

[jrrusk]

05:17 PM on 05/13/2011

I can't wait for this movie. It's my favorite book, and neither of the previous films have done it justice.

[ExJxS]

04:41 PM on 05/13/2011

She's a recent drama school. Wow, I'd attend that school.

[Simon Gribben]

03:58 PM on 05/13/2011

"Gatsby" is a nut that has yet to be cracked. Redford tried and missed. Leo makes a better fit for Gatsby with the edge he can bring. Tobey is also perfect for the Gatsby side-kick role. The new girl is untried but how hard can it be to out sex the fairy-child, Mia Farrow. However, Luhrmann is "the rub". Over-the-top is his mantra and I don't know if that would work. I'd wait for the the storm over the release to subside and I still don't know if I'd watch it. Ever been on a bad date? Had you known beforehand, would you have gone? Luhrmann is a bad date.

[ULTRAVIOLET24]

01:19 PM on 05/13/2011

It's difficult to imagine anyone topping Karen Black as Myrtle. She and that odd eye of hers were perfect. She knows how to turn on the crazy when required, and was great at reflecting that desperate, seething and underlying manic quality that Myrtle has.

[KJLSanDiego]

12:01 PM on 05/13/2011

I just can not get over "Toe-bee" being cast in this.
He does not have that classically masculine look, he can't pull off a film like this!

[tksensei]

11:05 PM on 05/13/2011

Does Nick need to be all that masculine? That would be more of a requirement for the Tom character. I think that 'garsh, what's going on?' look he always has would fit Nick pretty well.

[KJLSanDiego]

01:19 AM on 05/14/2011

I just don't see it.

[Wookiee1972]

10:29 AM on 05/13/2011

i still don't understand why this is going to be in 3D.

[tksensei]

11:08 PM on 05/13/2011

So the audience can see Jay Gatz's fate coming right out of the screen at them? Maybe Dr. Eckleberg's eyes bugging out?

Seriously:
Other than Mrytle getting run over I can't see how it would apply.

[Samantha Monteleone]

04:17 AM on 05/13/2011

Got to get some new actors/actresses in the business sometime. I hope it's good.

[Hareega]

01:21 AM on 05/13/2011

Did she sleep with the director?

[dorzic]

12:31 AM on 05/13/2011

I hope it's a musical!

[iRock]

09:11 PM on 05/12/2011

I can't tell you WHO she is, but I can tell you WHAT she is: A white woman.

There will always be roles for her.

lol

And she'll be and "overnight success" as a result when non-white actresses of all colors are still waiting for their first non-stereotypical principle role.

[tksensei]

12:28 AM on 05/13/2011

Are you familiar with the novel at all?

[iRock]

10:55 PM on 05/13/2011

You may be missing my point.

How many times does this film need to be made?

[NZBB]

02:10 AM on 05/13/2011

Wow. Slipping in a race hustle comment in such an unlikely location.

[iRock]

10:54 PM on 05/13/2011

Because I can?

Thanks

[lhanderson86]

07:13 PM on 05/12/2011

The are making the Great Gatsby AGAIN? Isn't this the third time?

[bnt]

05:49 PM on 05/19/2011

The last decent stab at it was in the 1970s, and even Robert Redford couldn't make it work. It needs a fresh pair of eyes. I won't be all Baz, I expect DiCaprio, Mulligan and Maguire to have some creative input too.

[Wintersoldier7020]

06:31 PM on 05/12/2011

I can't believe they demolished the mansion that inspired The Great Gatsby.

[Progress08]

04:22 PM on 05/12/2011

I get it. She looks super-mousy which is always how I always pictured the Baker character.

[mrspiffy]

11:40 AM on 05/13/2011

Jordan Baker was a lady golfer in the book so...probably wouldn't have been mousy.

[PrairieGayCompanion]

02:38 PM on 05/12/2011

She looks a little like (a young) Isabella Rossallini in this pic.

[MikeDu]

01:54 PM on 05/12/2011

Great Gatsby ranks among the worst of 'great American novels'. I can't see the attraction it has. I suppose it ties into the typical teenage fascination with people who live fast and die young. Plus a little unspoken homo-erotic undercurrent involved in the narrator being unnaturally attracted to Gatsby but not to the women surrounding him.

[theredqueen]

12:30 PM on 05/13/2011

Oh dear, if only I had known I would never have enjoyed the book half as much.

[tksensei]

11:14 PM on 05/13/2011

Seems you have read it but have not understood it.