Carey Mulligan Lands Role of Gatsby Girl Daisy Buchanan

Baz Luhrman put an end to all the speculation yesterday after considering pretty much every hot young actress in Hollywood for his new adaption of "The Great Gatsby."

"I was thrilled to pick up the phone an hour ago to the young Oscar-nominated British actress Carey Mulligan and say to her: 'Hello, Daisy Buchanan,'" the director told Deadline.

Keira Knightley, Amanda Seyfried, Blake Lively, Abbie Cornish, Michelle Williams and Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall and Natalie Portman were all under consideration at one time or another.

Hall at one time seemed to be the prohibitive favorite as she had been workshopping Luhrman's new script with Leonard and DiCaprio and Toby Maguire, who will play Jay Gatsby and Nick Carroway, respectively.

Being cast as Daisy makes for a nice finish to a disppointing year for Mulligan. After earning an Oscar nomination for her work in "An Education," both "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" and "Never Let Me Go" went totally ignored.

Mulligans next film, "Drive," stars Ryan Gosling as a stunt driver who moonlight's as a getaway, and must go on the run after a robbery goes bad. The film is based on the novel by James Sallis and is being directed by Nicholas Winding Refn. It's due out some time next year.

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