Natalie Portman to play Daisy in 'The Great Gatsby' film?

11/02/2010 by Corinne Heller

Natalie Portman, Michelle Williams, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall of The Town are among actresses director Baz Luhrmann is reportedly considering casting as Daisy Buchanan in a new movie adaptation of The Great Gatsby, which is based on the famed 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Luhrmann and the actresses have not commented on the report by Deadline.com, which also named Keira Knightley, Amanda Seyfried, Blake Lively of Gossip Girl and Abbie Cornish in the list of contenders.

Preliminary casting lists for the movie show it is slated for release in 2012. The website said Luhrmann recently had a workshop of the screenplay adapted from the book that he wrote with Craig Pearce, with Leonardo DiCaprio reading Jay Gatsby, Tobey Maguire reading Nick Carraway, and Hall reading Daisy Buchanan.

Robert Redford played Gatsby, a shady millionaire and Mia Farrow played his character's love interest Buchannan, who Gatsby courted and lost due to their differences in their social statuses, in a 1974 film that was based on a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola. Mira Sorvino and Paul Rudd starred in a 2000 made-for-television film.

Portman, a 29-year-old Israeli-born American actress, shot to fame in the film The Professional in 1994. She later played a queen in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and starred in movies such as V for Vendetta and Closer, the latter of which earned her an Oscar nomination in 2005. She is currently receiving Oscar buzz for her role in the new ballet thriller Black Swan.

Check out the trailer for Black Swan, which features scenes that see her kissing Mila Kunis as her character explores the dark side of the ballet world and of herself.

Check out 15 things you may not know about Natalie Portman: