Actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire have been real-life friends since childhood. This marks the first time they have appeared in a film together since Don's Plum (2001). Before this, they appeared together in This Boy's Life (1993).
Leonardo DiCaprio wanted to play Jay Gatsby because he was drawn to the idea of a man who came from absolutely nothing, who created himself solely from his imagination. When speaking about the role, he said: "Gatsby is one of those iconic characters because he can be interpreted in many ways - as a hopeless romantic, a completely obsessed wacko, or a dangerous gangster clinging to wealth."
On the first day of shooting, director Baz Luhrmann filmed the scene where Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, and Daisy Buchanan have tea during a rainstorm. Since it was a beautiful spring day, Luhrmann had to use 100,000 liters of water to create the downpour seen in the film. Immediately afterward, it rained for the next three days.
The phrase "Ad Finem Fidelis" can be seen on one of the gates at Gatsby's mansion. This is Latin for "faithful to the end" alluding to the fact that Gatsby remained faithful to Daisy until the end of his life.
A photograph of Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald, hangd on the wall of the apartment that Tom Buchanan shares with Myrtle Wilson. Although Zelda's photograph appears in the film, the character of Daisy Buchanan was primarily based on Fitzgerald's first love, Ginevra King, a wealthy Chicago socialite whom he could not marry due to his lack of money.
Baz Luhrmann: The waiter that brings Nick to Jordan's table to meet for tea after his lunch with Gatsby.