Carey Mulligan offered Great Gatsby's Daisy

After much speculation over who would be cast, it is official: the role of Daisy Buchanan has been offered to Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan (
An Education) by director Baz Luhrmann (
Australia,
Moulin Rouge) for his adaptation of
The Great Gatsby.

Mulligan was considered along with several actresses including Keira Knightley, Amanda Seyfried, Michelle Williams and Scarlett Johansson for the coveted role. She was given the news on the red carpet for The Fashion Council Awards, according to blog Deadline Hollywood.

Luhrmann has conducted readings with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Jay Gatsby and Tobey Maguire as the character Nick Carraway. They are expected to take the roles.

Mia Farrow played Daisy in the 1974 film version of the classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald with Robert Redford playing Gatsby and Sam Waterston as Carraway. The unrequited love story is set in 1920 among the wealthy society of New York.

Mulligan, recently in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, will also star in Drive with Ryan Gosling, about a Hollywood stunt man.

DiCaprio ( Inception) is about to shoot the biopic Hoover, playing the former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover with director Clint Eastwood.

Maguire, last seen in Brothers with Jake Gyllenhaal is scheduled next for Pawn Sacrifice as the American chess champion Bobby Fischer. He will also produce the sci-fi thriller Afterburn starring Gerald Butler.

RC