Baz Luhrmann 'thrilled' The Great Gatsby is to open Cannes Film Festival 2013

Baz Luhrmann’s 3D adaptation of The Great Gatsby will open the Cannes Film Festival this year, organisers said today.

The eagerly anticipated film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan, was delayed from being released in 2012 so that Luhrmann could continue to refine the film.

The director is said to be a favourite of the festival. His 2001 musical drama Moulin Rouge remains one of the most memorable opening nights in Cannes history, with an expensive after-party thrown by distributor 20th Century Fox.

Luhrmann said he was “thrilled” to be able to return to Cannes for the 66th annual festival.

“Not only because my first film Strictly Ballroom was screened there 21 years ago, but because F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of the most poignant and beautiful passages of his extraordinary novel just a short distance away at a villa outside St. Raphael,” he said.

With Steven Spielberg confirmed as the head of the festival jury, it looks to be an exciting year for Cannes. Perhaps The Great Gatsby distributors Warner Bros will throw an after-party fit for Jay Gatsby himself.

Cannes kicks off on Wednesday 15 May at the Grand Théâtre Lumière of the Palais des Festivals.

It is only the second time the debut film has been in 3D following animation Up by Pete Docter in 2009.

DiCaprio, who plays Jay Gatsby, has rarely been seen on the Croisette. He returns to Cannes for the first time since the 2007 presentation of The 11th Hour, a documentary on ecological issues which the actor himself produced.