I don't know if you knew this already or not, but Baz Luhrmann really loves Australia. With the exception of Romeo + Juliet - which actually has a surprising complete lack of Australians - Luhrmann has always made an effort to use Aussie actors in his films. Hell, the guy even made a movie called Australia. Thus far the filmmaker has done a pretty solid job of continuing the pattern with The Great Gatsby, already signing on both Joel Edgerton and Isla Fisher to play roles. Just to be safe, however, he's just added two more.
EW and Variety are reporting that Gemma Ward and Callan McAuliffe have both landed parts in Luhrmann's adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's great novel. Ward, who played one of the vicious, scary mermaids in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides earlier this summer, is playing an unspecified role, while McAuliffe, who played a lead role in Rob Reiner's Flipped and starred in I Am Number Four earlier this year, will play a young Jay Gatsby. The rest of the cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton and Isla Fisher. The film is currently in production at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia.
Though we didn't really get to see very much of Ward's acting ability in Pirates (though she did get everyone to say "Is that Amanda Seyfried?"), McAuliffe is a solid performer that can put on an impressive American accent. Chances are that neither of them will have very big roles in the film - we all know the book and the main characters - but if it helps Luhrmann support his Australian brethren I say why not.
