Jay-Z Confirmed to Score THE GREAT GATSBY

by Adam Chitwood Posted 168 days ago

the-great-gatsby-jay-z

When the first trailer for director Baz Luhrmann’s ambitious adaptation of the classic novel The Great Gatsby debuted online, many were jarred by the juxtaposition of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild” against the film’s period setting. The decision to use that song in the trailer wasn’t a complete shock, as Luhrmann has shown a propensity for populating his period films with modern music. He had no problem mixing Shakespeare with Radiohead in Romeo + Juliet and 1900s France with Madonna in Moulin Rouge!. Now, though, it appears that Luhrmann isn’t just repurposing existing songs for The Great Gatsby, but is having Jay-Z himself provide an original score for the film. Hit the jump for more details.

Rumors have swirled for months regarding the score and soundtrack for The Great Gatsby, with previous reports noting that Prince and Lady Gaga might be providing original songs for the film. Yesterday, singer/songwriter/producer Jeymes Samuel of The Bullitts fame took to Twitter (via The Film Stage) to confirm that he and Jay-Z are composing the film’s score:

Jay-Z and myself have been working tirelessly on the score for the upcoming #CLASSIC The Great Gatsby! It is too DOPE for words!

— THE BULLITTS (@TheBullitts) December 30, 2012

No other details are known at this time, but I’m pretty excited to see what comes of this collaboration. Luhrmann isn’t exactly known for his subtlety as a filmmaker, and the trailers for The Great Gatsby promise a wildly ambitious and visually arresting iteration of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s American classic. It’s entirely possible that the whole thing may turn out to be a complete disaster, but I remain (maybe foolishly) overly optimistic.

In case you missed it, check out the latest trailer for the film below. The Great Gatsby opens in 3D on May 10, 2013.

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Tags:

Baz Luhrmann, Jay-Z, Jeymes Samuel, The Bullitts, The Great Gatsby

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Comments:

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Tyler

When I read the book a few years back, I always heard Jay-Z music in my head. -__-
will

I don’t know. Rap in a movie like Django worked because it fell in line with the movie, but the pure anachronism of Jay-Z in a Gatsby movie might be too much.
J.R.

It keeps getting worst and worst!
@Tyler, very funny LOL!
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Drake

Like Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park 2: ‘This is the worst idea in the long sad history of bad ideas.’
Bill

Fitzgerald deserves better. What a joke.
Johann

*No Church in the Wild
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Ted

As much as I like Jay-Z, all I have to say to this adaptation is no, no, no, no, and NO. New York doesn’t need to be CGI-oriented like it’s Fritz Lang’s Metropolis or something like that. Moreover, the movie shouldn’t just garishly bring attention to itself like it’s eye candy. It’s just Carraway recounting his experiences on the East Coast, particularly concerning Gatsby and Daisy. For a good depiction of cinematography, just get a good plate shot and period design for a few encompassing shots of the city and city blocks and work from there. Jay-Z doesn’t need to score this film: Howard Shore, John Williams, Dario Marianelli, or (if he composes more film scores) John Corigliano can all do a splendid job with a 70-piece orchestra. Imagine if this movie was made in the Roaring 20s. I don’t want Jay-Z to write beats for this movie and here, I don’t think anachronism is a good thing. Anachronism works in Django Unchained because, well, since when does Quentin Tarantino take history seriously? (I don’t intend that as a criticism of him, but it’s true.)
Also, it is said in the book Gatsby has a faux-British accent. Does Leonardo DiCaprio have that?
- Steve Potter
  
  The fact of the matter is, Baz Lurhmann wanted to do something DIFFERENT. A good plate shot and some period design? Boring. New York can be eye candy because it’s new and exciting to Carraway. And sure, Howard Shore or John Williams could do a great job, but let’s be honest here, they compose EVERYTHING. And as for the faux-British accent- does it matter? No, it really doesn’t. It’s such a minor part of Gatsby’s character that it might as well not be there for all it’s worth. What matters is the personality and demeanor of the character, and Leonardo DiCaprio is going to NAIL it.
  
  I too am unsold on the music choice, but I’m willing to give it a shot. It’s going to be different, what’s wrong with that?
Strong Enough

sounds daring. i like it.
- Steve
  
  This is the Internet. If you’re not going to tow the line with knee-jerk cynicism, you’re not going to fit in very well.
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D

When I was in high school I had an English project where he had to reenact scenes from The Great Gatsby with puppets and we used some local rap music in one of the scenes.
-

This is either absolutely genius or really dumb.
Most likely the latter.
Old Soldier

What’s next, Katy Perry scoring the new Star Wars?
- bobice
  
  ……
  
  Yes.
brNdon

I wish everyone would revisit the title of this article before they comment on it. Jay-Z has been hired to provide a score for this film, not to write a soundtrack which is completely different. I’m not saying that there won’t be any modern music, but it definitely has no implication that this movie is going to be filled with rap music.
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Harry

Fitzgerald is twerkin’ in his grave.
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Chuck Anziulewicz

A splashy new film adaptation of “The Great Gatsby?” WONDERFUL. But when I saw the trailer and heard the music, I thought to myself, “Nah.” Some period jazz would work much better. Do you think a more appropriate score would somehow ALIENATE a younger audience? I doubt it. But the contemporary score by Jay-Z and Kanye Kardashian will most certainly drive away older moviegoers.
- jimmytwolips
  
  Good.
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Ruben Baeza

What is wrong with Jazz music? That is what defined that era, if I remember correctly, people still listen to jazz music. I would like to have thought Baz would be smart enough to introduce people to music that really shook the world at that time. But now he is really desperate with not only using quite possibly one of the worst Hip-hop artist in history, but also really trying to add things to a novel that didn’t need anything added at all. Just remember this movie was suppose to come out during christmas and they pushed it back to the summer? That means there was trouble on the set to begin with and the director doesn’t know what he is doing. Next time give the project to Martin Scorsese, at least we know he can do a period piece right.
Bruce Harrington

Destructivism is great when done properly, but this is the artistic equivalent of rape. Fitzgerald wrote a time tested masterpiece, this movie is a failure to its inspiration.
Nick Carraway

Sssshhhh…. if you listen very closely, you can hear Fitzgerald rolling in his grave….

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