‘The Great Gatsby’ to be adapted as animated feature film

Nearly a month after it was reported that a television adaptation of ‘The Great Gatsby’ from ‘Vikings’ creator Michael Hirst is in development, another adaptation is already in the works! As per Variety, ‘The Great Gatsby’ is getting adapted as an animated feature film. Author William Joyce is set to helm the animated version of the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel ‘The Great Gatsby’.

The adaptation of Fitzgerald’s novel will be written by Brian Selznick, who wrote and illustrated the book ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret’ on which Martin Scorsese’s 2011 film ‘Hugo’ was based.

Michael Siegel and DNEG Senior VP Creative Production David Prescott join Joyce as producers for the animated feature film. DNEG Feature Animation will provide animation services. This marks the first time the 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald will be turned into an animated feature. Its most recent adaptation was for Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film starring actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan.

Commenting on the upcoming project, Joyce said, “Gatsby continues to cast a powerful spell over readers unlike any other book in American letters. Much of the power of Gatsby comes from the enchantment of Fitzgerald’s prose. He created a vivid dreamscape that, to some degree, has eluded filmmakers since the silent era. The previous film versions were constrained by live-action, but innovative animation could finally realise the elusive quality of the novel.”

Fitzgerald’s iconic novel has been adapted several times for film and television, for the first time in 1926. Feature adaptations have included a 1974 version starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, which won Oscars for its score and costume design, Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 movie starring Leonardo DeCaprio and Carey Mulligan, which won Oscars for production design and costume design.