Baz Luhrmann to Shoot 'Great Gatsby' in Sydney

Sydney -- Baz Luhrmann's 3D take on The Great Gatsby will shoot in Sydney in August -- beating out the iconic story's home town of New York -- after a deal was signed with the New South Wales (NSW) state government Friday, it was announced here Sunday.

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The film is the first live-action 3D movie to be shot in NSW. Filming will take place at Sydney's Fox Studios, with Warner Bros. backing the feature and Luhrmann's Bazmark Films producing.

Leonardo DiCaprio will star as Jay Gatsby while Carey Mulligan has been offered the role of Daisy Buchanan.

Murmurs about a Sydney shoot have been swirling around the industry here for several weeks. Luhrmann's last two features, Australia and Moulin Rouge were both shot at Fox Studios.

NSW Premier Kristina Kenneally said the film will inject AUS$120 million ($118 million) into the NSW economy, with the shoot to last 17 weeks and another 30 weeks to be spent on post production.

An estimated 275 crew will be employed during pre-production; more than 400 cast and crew will be employed during principal photography; and an estimated 150 post production and visual effects crew will also be employed.

Pre-production starts next month.

No details of the level of incentives provided to the film were immediately available but its a boost to the local industry with no big budget offshore features slated to shoot in Australia.

"This comes at a good time for the film industry," Keneally said. "Australia was thought to be losing international filmmaking due to the strong Aussie dollar – put simply, this is a big win."

Eleven episodes of Fox's Terra Nova will shoot in Queensland from May after the 2 hour pilot was shot there in December.

However the NSW government recently announced a swag of development work will take place her over the coming year including the lead work on Walking With Dinosaurs 3D, Ridley Scott's Prometheus and Hem, a 3D pilot being made by Animal Logic.

Locations agency Ausfilm said on Thursday it wants the federal government to up its locations and pdv (post, digital and effects) incentives to 30 percent.