In costume ... Tobey Maguire on set of The Great Gatsby / Pic: Brad Hunter Source: The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph’s Joel Christie reports
In a major day of filming of The Great Gatsby yesterday, cast and crew worked through the rain on an elaborate set built on the grounds of Rozelle's abandoned White Bay power station, which has been recreated to resemble a barren wasteland on the fringes of 1920s New York.
The backdrop - realised through the sketches of production designer Catherine Martin, the wife of director Baz Luhrmann - has come out of the film's $88 million production budget.
It's a setting Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald called Valley of the Ashes in his 1925 literary classic.
In his novel he described the Valley of the Ashes as a "a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens".
It's also the place where Isla Fisher’s character, Myrtle Wilson, is killed.
Being shot in 3D, the movie is expected to inject more than $120 million into the NSW economy over the fourth-month shoot.
A total 1300 people will work on the film, including 275 full-time crew and 150 in post-production. Extras, assistants, engineers, carpenters, drivers and caterers will all play essential roles.
Luhrmann has a lot riding on the controversial Great Gatsby adaption following the critical panning of his last film Australia in 2008.
The release date he has set for Gatsby - Boxing Day 2012 - suggests a scale that is nothing short of blockbuster.
Boxing Day is traditionally reserved for highly-anticipated instalments of Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter, and last year featured box office smashes The King's Speech and The Social Network.
The timing of course also allows the film to compete in the Oscars race.
Industry observers have also questioned shooting the flick in expensive and problematic 3D technology.
But Aussie actor Joel Edgerton - who plays abusive know-it-all Tom Buchanan - defended Luhrmann's decision, saying the effect will be more about feeling immersed in the roaring 20s and the rich sets rather than experiencing an Avatar-style pop-out.
It's understood the Rozelle set will only be standing for about a week before being torn down.
While most of the movie is being shot inside the lots at Fox Studios, the main set that is yet to be seen is the mansion of mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
The house is pivotal to the plot as the venue for the wild, rollicking parties that defined America at that time - a place of post World War I prosperity and excess.
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