'The Great Gatsby' Film: 9 Facts In 90 Seconds

'The Great Gatsby': 9 Facts In 90 Seconds
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Warner Bros

Everything you needed to know about 'The Great Gatsby' film - Baz Luhrmann's film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's great American novel, in 9 easy-to-swallow facts in 90 seconds or less.

Luhrmann and his producers spent two years trying to get the rights to make the flick, which follows 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 and glittering jazz.

Before we give you the facts, here's the film synopsis:

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. Thus is Nick 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.

'The Great Gatsby' facts
(01 of09)
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1. Shawn 'Jay Z' Carter, the rap mogul and Beyonce's hubby, is an executive producer on the film. Well, he sure knows how to live a luxurious lifestyle. (credit:Warner Bros.)
(02 of09)
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2. Fitzgerald's first draft of The Great Gatsby was titled Trimalchio, a tribute to the famous Roman party-giver who appears in the Roman novel Satyricon. (credit:Warner Bros.)
(03 of09)
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3. Baz Luhrmann brought back his long-time collaborator and Oscar-winning 'Moulin Rouge' costume designer, Catherine Martin, to design and produce the film. (credit:Warner Bros.)
(04 of09)
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4. Baz Luhrmann first encountered 'The Great Gatsby' on the screen, in 1974, in remote Heron’s Creek, Australia, where his father ran the gas station and, briefly, the cinema. (credit:Warner Bros.)
(05 of09)
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5. Luhrmann first imagined his own adaptation of the book in 2004 while on a train in Siberia, "in a sardine-box of a cabin", as he listened to an audio book of the novel. (credit:Warner Bros.)
(06 of09)
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6. Luhrmann and his producers spent two years trying to get the rights to make the flick. (credit:Getty Images)
(07 of09)
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7. Carey Mulligan had never read The Great Gatsby when she was called to audition for the part of Southern Belle Daisy Buchanan. (credit:Warner Bros.)
(08 of09)
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8. Ben Affleck was originally cast as Tom Buchanan. In the end, Affleck abandoned the role to direct and star in Argo, which went on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards last year. Australian actor Zero Dark Thirty star Joel Edgerton was eventually cast in the role. (credit:Warner Bros.)
(09 of09)
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9. If you want to replicate Gatsby's lifestyle today, it'll cost you a whopping $34.3 million, according to a new infographic compiled by online money magazineWhat's Hot. Expenses calculated include Gatsby's lavish Long Island, N.Y., mansion ($30 million), his personal shopper ($470,610) and posh parties ($250,000). (credit:Warner Bros.)