Director Baz Luhrmann has finally found his Tom Buchanan for The Great Gatsby, landing Australian actor Joel Edgerton. Ben Affleck was in talks to portray Tom Buchanan before stepping away from the F. Scott Fitzgerald adaptation last month to direct his next feature, Argo. Here's what Baz Luhrmann had to say about the casting decision.

In casting Tom one had to find an actor who could credibly be (as Fitzgerald describes him) 'one of the most powerful ends that ever played football as New Haven,' had five star acting chops and in the big dramatic showdown scenes between Gatsby and Tom, hold the screen against Leonardo DiCaprio, in the appropriate age group. Any wonder, it has been a long and thorough journey. The simple truth is that Joel came into our rehearsal space in New York and fulfilled all of the above criteria, and then some."

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jay Gatsby, with Carey Mulligan portraying Daisy Buchanan, who falls for Gatsby despite being married to Tom. Tobey Maguire is set to play Nick Carraway, the narrator in the novel. Isla Fisher also joined the cast last month as Myrtle, Tom's mistress.

Baz Luhrmann will direct The Great Gatsby, which will be released in 3D. It still isn't clear when production will start yet.