Summary Hollywood icon will head the jury and a quintessential US literary figure will open the event.
PARIS (AP) - The Cannes Film Festival has an American flavor this year, with a Hollywood icon heading the jury and a quintessential US literary figure opening the event: The Great Gatsby.
Organizers said Tuesday the film "The Great Gatsby," with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role and directed by Australian Baz Luhrmann, will open this year s Cannes festival in 3-D, no less.
Luhrmann stressed the film s French connection, saying in a statement that author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote "some of the most poignant and beautiful passages" of "The Great Gatsby" at a French Riviera villa not far from Cannes.
Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan also star in Luhrmann s version of the 1925 novel.
Steven Spielberg is heading the jury at the Cannes festival this year, which runs May 15-26.
