Prizefight: Leonardo Vs Redford

Anyone who knows me, or who reads my blog on a regular basis will tell you that i am a huge fan of The Great Gatsby, and all derivative works, including the films and even the soundtracks. This post represents the first in a new series called prizefights, in which i will pit competitors together, and decide which one is better, in this case i am comparing two performers who played Jay Gatsby, Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2013 film, and Robert Redford in the 1974 version. In this case the two will be compared on their acting, closeness to the source material, fashion and how iconic their performances have become.

For me, Gatsby is something of a fashion icon, and the 1974 defined the throback twenties fashion of the decade, the film propelled designer Ralph Lauren to international stardom, and was able to rewrite history, and retrospectively altered the way most people defined fashion in the twenties. The 2013 version takes a similar approach, and modernizes the fashion of the era, with the men wearing boots, trousers being more tailored and slim, and jackets no longer being belted, but featuring slim waistcoats and tie pins. Although the fashion of the 1974 film is arguably more iconic, and had more of an influence of the fashion of the era, the fashion of the 2013 version of Gatsby is more true to the era, more imaginative, and personally, i find it more chic.

Both Redford and DiCaprio are tremendous actors, and it is very hard to compare their performances, as they are both spectacular, Redford portrays Gatsby as being very smooth, as a slick buisnessman, and as a man who never looses his cool, and a man who is stable in his belief that Daisy will always love him, DiCaprio's Gatsby is more loose, he does loose his cool, we start to see the man behind the character, the inner being behind the facade that he has created, and we begin to see his true colours. The 2013 Gatsby is also far more forthcoming about his past than the 1974 version was, he openly tells Nick about his past and he is unashamed of all that he has done, so whilst the portrayals are different, neither is really better than the other, and these are both fine actors at the absolute top of their game.

The 2013 film is certainly more faithful to the source material than the 1974 version, in the novel, Jay Gatsby is pitiful and childish, he has a naive belief that he can change the past, that he can wipe out Daisy's history with Tom, and that they can recapture what they once had, DiCaprio's Gatsby is similar to this, he is whiney and churlish, he throws a tantrum when he doesn't get his way and he becomes violent when Daisy won't obey him, this is in complete contrast to his character earlier in the film, when he is more slick and polished. There is something pathetic about the character in the film, as there is in the book, whereas Redford's Gatsby is too cool and slick, and doesn't have the ragged edges that the character in the book does.

In terms of iconography, there is little competition. Redford for a long time was the ultimate Gatsby, his performance redefined the way the novel was read and imagined, his performance is strong, iconic and powerful, and he defines not just the character or film, but the whole of the seventies in some ways, his portrayal of the character, the way the character dress and his hairstyle are iconic images. Overall, it's a tough call, both actors have factors in their favour, however Leonardo DiCaprio's performance, the way the character dresses, his smooth yet rough around the edges performance is a fantastic adaptation of the novel, and, for me, he represents the character as i imagine him from the source material.