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At the New York premiere for press of the Hollywood film, The Great Gatsby, plenty of cinephiles were excited to see author F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel of the same name come to life.

Even though the film doesn’t reach theaters until next week (May 10), the hype train has been in motion as the cast, director Baz Luhrmann, and costume director Catherine Martin chatted it up with press ahead of the release.

Amazingly, The Great Gatsby, which cost around $100 million to produce, is filled with dazzling set pieces and jazzy iconography of the 1920s. But for those familiar with Baz Luhrmann’s style (he directed the stylistic Romeo+Juliet), one would have to be equally impressed by how the throwback classic is infused with flashes of modern musical brilliance. It was all fused together with a wide array of artists from today such as Jack White, Lana Del Rey,Florence Welch and, most notably, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, who was an executive producer on the film.

Many movie fans were just a twinkle in their parent’s eye when the 1974 film, which starred Robert Redford, made an impact on the big screen. In the 2013 version, Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), leaves his Midwestern home for the rich pastures of Long Island, where he finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and ballertastic lifestyle of his neighbor, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). Carraway is drawn into Gatsby’s inner circle, becoming a witness to obsession, deceit, corruption and tragedy.

Without giving too much away, Luhrmann’s incentive to bring Gatsby to the big screen (and in 3D no less) began way back in 2004 during an excursion through Siberia. “I had this epiphany,” the director recently told The Wall Street Journal. “I was on that train [in 2004] going through Siberia, and I’d seen Robert Redford in the 1970s ‘Gatsby.’ I thought, ‘Beautiful. But not quite sure who that guy is.'” Crafting this flick around Carraway’s inner voice created a film that is markedly different than previous incarnations.

Hip-Hop Wired was on-hand for all the festivities, and after attending the film’s press junket in New York City this past weekend, we learned five key points about the $125 million 3D project that you should know before hitting the theaters.

Photos: Warner Bros.

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