The Aussie contingent on Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby adaptation has grown with the addition of an unexpected local talent that you might know for other things besides acting. Joining Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher and model Gemma Ward is triple j presenter, musician and human tweet machine Brendan Maclean, who has been cast as soulless Gatsby hanger-on Klipspringer. We had a quick chat to Brendan about how he was cast and what his experience on set has been like so far.
Hey Brendan, so what did the casting process involve? Casting for Gatsby ran over about two months. I saw a lot of huge names walk in and out of the casting office. When I got the call-back I almost vomited when I walked in to find Baz Luhrmann, sitting cooly on the lounge. He didn’t have a script so we just improvised a phone call and talked about Australian music for about an hour. The waiting almost did me in, one day I just couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed – finally I got an email from Baz, “I hope you’ll join us in the role of Klipspringer”. I screamed for a little and went to a friend to see if I had read the email correctly before running madly through the street.
How has your time on set been so far? We’ve had a few days on set, everything I’m doing is on Fox. It’s a Baz film, so the sets will blow your mind. I’m an attention whore so I’m adoring the costume and make-up women who are truly the most glamorous in the film business. Everyone probably knows now that the big names have arrived; Leonardo, Tobey, Carrie are all darlings. Honestly, Leo is like a big kid. Cheeky, always laughing when things get too serious. You always know when the big three are in because paparazzi line the gates, they’re like piranhas. But on set – they go out of their way to just be apart of the cast.
You can next catch Brendan at the Sydney Fringe performing in Baby With The Bathwater.
