F.Scott Fitzgerald Inspired by Oheka Castle for His Book, "The Great Gatsby" The Castle History Could be a Movie: From Private Home to Hotel used by Celebrities such as; a Jonas Brother and Joey Fatone

Oheka Castle built from 1914-1919. Inspired F.Scott Fitzgerald to use in the Great Gatsby

Oheka castle gardens

 Shot of Oheka Castle's 443 acres.  It is the second largest private estate in he United States .It is 109,000 square feet and had 127 rooms.  It was built by, Otto Herman Kahn, who was a banker. He had a home in New Jersey and it burnt down which caused him to build this home with steel and concrete so he did not have to worry about a fire.  In 1934, Mr Herman died, and the home was used a a retreat for NYC sanitation workers. By 1948, the home was purchased by the Eastern Military Academy. They only bought 23 acres and subdivided the rooms to make bunks out of them. The school had closed and from 1979-1984 the castle was abandoned and remained empty.  There was are more than 100 counts of arson during that time.  It was purchased by Mr.  Melius in 1984 for his home, but it was too much work, which resulted in selling it and buying it back again. He is currently using the estate as hotel for weddings. Kevin Jonas and Joey Fatone were two celebrities who had their wedding there. The video featured below gives a history of the mansion and other homes that are in the same area in Long Island.  It also shows the home that was inspiration for F. Scott Fitzgerald, for   Daisy Buchanan's home  in the Great Gatsby.

"Great Gatsby:" From F. Scott Fitzgerald Book to 3-D Movie Starring Leonardo di Caprio

Original book cover, the Great Gatsby  published 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Scribner  & Sons

Oheka Castle on Long Island was inspiration for the book

Original Movie poster  in 1974, for the Great Gatsby, Paramount pictures

The Great Gatsby  was published on April 10  1925, by Charles Scribners  &  Sons, and written by, F Scott Fitzgerald. Originally, the book was supposed to be called, Trimalchio, but then changed to, The Great Gatsby. The book cover was illustrated by, Francis Cugot before the book was completed.  Fitzgerald incorporated the cover it into the story that was set in 1922. The story takes place on the North shore of Long Island, and the Oheka Castle was great inspiration for the book. The book was made into a silent film in 1922, and again in 1949 starring Alan Ladd as Gatsby.  In 1971, Robert Evans bought the rights for the film, and was going to use Ali MacGraw as Daisy, but never cast because she left him to date actor, Steve McQueen.
Mia Farrow got the part instead, but was pregnant during the filming and resulted in a lot of close-up shots done. The screenplay was supposed to have been done by Truman Capote, then he was replaced by Francis Ford Coppola. The film was made for 6.5 million dollars, and had earned around 23 million. It was just announced that the Great Gatsby  will be done again, but this time as a 3-D feature film.  It will star, Leonardo di Caprio as Gatsby and it will start filming in Australia in August 2011 for 17 weeks.  This will be the very first 3-D film to be produced there. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film is backed by Warner Bros and will be filmed at a Fox studio. The estimated time for post production will be 30 weeks.

Leonardo di Caprio: From "Romper Room" to "Great Gatsby" 3-D

Leonard di Caprio

Leonardo di Caprio was born on November 11, 1974. He was born and raised in Los Angeles.   His mother was a legal secretary and his father, an underground comic artist. His mother had named him Leonardo because she was in a museum looking for the Leonardo da Vinci paintings when she got her first kick from him, and decided to name her baby Leonardo.  At the age of 5 he was on Romper Room, but was taken off the set for his disruptive behavior.  His first big break in the entertainment industry was doing educational films and then commercials for Matchbox and Apple Jacks.  He had done a number of other commercials before moving to television, where he got a part on the soap opera, Santa Barbara. He then moved on to doing the series, Growing Pains. Leonardo's first feature film was in 1991 when he did the film, Critters. Leonardo's received critical attention  in 1997 when he was in, Titanic. To date, Mr di Caprio has been in 27 feature films. His most recent set to be released in 2011, J Edgar, based on J Edgar Hoover. It was just announced that Leonardo will be filming the Great Gatsby in 3-D.  He will go to Australia in August 2011 to work for about 17 weeks filming the part of, Jay Gatsby.