Warner Bros. is increasingly looking to be the new home of Jay Gatsby.
Australian director Baz Luhrmann, who has been working on an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," has been having serious conversations with the studio, TheWrap has learned.
No deal has been finalized.
Sony and Luhrmann share the rights to the project, which the director is writing with frequent collaborator Craig Pearce ("Moulin Rouge!").
This past fall, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire workshopped scenes from the movie in New York. The two actors read the roles of Jay Gatsby and narrator Nick Carraway — characters who were played by Robert Redford and Sam Waterston in Jack Clayton's 1974 adaptation of Fitzgerald's 1925 novel.
Luhrmann is also producing with Catherine Martin and Red Wagon's Lucy Fisher and Douglas Wick. DiCaprio, Maguire and Carey Mulligan are expected to appear in the film.
DiCaprio previously starred in Luhrmann's "Romeo and Juliet," and he acted alongside Maguire in both "This Boy's Life" and the little-seen indie "Don's Plum." He starred in Warner Bros. hits "Inception," "The Departed" and "Blood Diamond."
