Sam Waterston Returns to ‘The Great Gatsby’ House, Over 50 Years Later, on ‘Today’
Sam Waterston took a trip down memory lane in honor of the 100th anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s legendary novel The Great Gatsby.
The actor, who famously played Nick Carraway in the book’s 1974 film adaptation, recently visited one of the movie’s iconic filming locations, Rosecliff mansion, with NBC’s Anne Thompson. “What’s it like to be back?” she asked Waterston in a video package that aired on the Monday, July 14, episode of Today. He replied, “Well, it’s kind of overwhelming, actually. This is all coming in, like, a rush.”
Rosecliff acted as Gatsby’s lavish Long Island, New York, mansion in the movie, which starred Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby and Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan. The Great Gatsby‘s Nick marked a breakout role for Waterston, who went on to star in shows such as Lincoln, Grace and Frankie, and Law & Order.
In the Today clip, Waterston reflected on the film’s legacy while speaking with Thompson at the Preservation Society of Newport County’s summer lecture series at Rosecliff on Wednesday, July 9. “Did you have any sense of how important this film was when you were on the set?” Thompson asked, to which Waterston sarcastically replied, “No. I mean, [it’s] a little-known novel.”
Waterston jokingly added, “There was no, ‘I don’t know whether I’ll do this movie or not. I mean, who else is in it?’”
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Waterston went on to share the piece of advice he got from Redford that’s stuck with him over the years. “He said, ‘People are being too nice to you.’ I said, ‘They’re being wonderful to me. They’re being absolutely fabulous. I’ve never been so well-treated in my life,’” he explained. “He said, ‘Don’t be fooled. It’s not love. They want something that you’ve got. Don’t mistake it for love.’”
During the Wednesday conversation, Thompson noted that one of her favorite scenes from the film is Nick’s final scene with Gatsby, as he tells his friend that story’s Old Money characters are a “rotten crowd” before giving a wave goodbye with his back turned.
“I went and walked off across the lawn to give him something to look at, and as I was going, I waved to him back there,” Waterston explained of the scene. “The kind of, ‘I’m with you and leaving,’ both at the same time.”
Thompson went on to note, “And it’s not in the book and it’s not in the script. That’s Sam Waterston adding to the [movie].”
The movie marked the third film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, following a 1926 silent film and a 1949 version starring Alan Ladd in the titular role and Macdonald Carey as Nick. Paul Rudd took on the role of Gatsby’s friend and confidant for the 2000 TV film, while Tobey Maguire portrayed Nick alongside Leonardo DiCaprio‘s Gatsby in the 2013 movie.
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