In 1993, another version of the novel was published under the title The Love of the Last Tycoon, as part of the Cambridge edition of the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli, a Fitzgerald scholar. Bruccoli reworked the extant seventeen chapters of the thirty-one planned according to his interpretation of the author’s notes. At least one reviewer considered Bruccoli’s work to be a “remarkable feat of scholarship” and notes that it “restored Fitzgerald’s original version and has also restored the narrative’s ostensible working title, one that implies that Hollywood is the last American frontier where immigrants and their progeny remake themselves.”
Point of view
Fitzgerald wrote the novel in a blend of first person and third person narrations. While the story is ostensibly told by Cecilia, many scenes are narrated in which she is not present. Occasionally a scene will be presented twice, once through Cecilia and once through a third party.
Awards
The revised edition of The Love of The Last Tycoon won the Choice Outstanding Academic Books award of 1995.
Reception
Edmund Wilson believed the novel to be Fitzgerald’s finest. Following Fitzgerald’s death, his editor Maxwell Perkins wrote a letter to Sheliah Graham, stating that “the first chapter alone is good enough to stand by itself. It breaks a man’s heart to see what this book could have been”.
Adaptations
1957: John Frankenheimer directed a TV version for Playhouse 90, with Jack Palance as Monroe Stahr.
1976: A film version was adapted for the screen by British playwright Harold Pinter, directed by Elia Kazan (his last film). It was produced by Sam Spiegel and released as The Last Tycoon. It starred Robert De Niro as Monroe Stahr and Theresa Russell as Cecilia Brady, and featured appearances by Robert Mitchum and Jack Nicholson. Pinter later won the Nobel Prize for his dramatic plays.
1998: A stage adaptation of the 1993 edition, by Simon Levy and authorized by the Fitzgerald Estate, opened at The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles. It received high praise and numerous awards.
2013: A 90-minute audio adaptation by Feelgood Fiction for BBC Radio 4 was adapted and directed by Bill Bryden, starring Aidan Gillen and Jack Shepherd.
2014: Japan’s all-female theatre company Takarazuka Revue staged a musical adaptation of The Love of The Last Tycoon for then Flower Troupe top star Tomu Ranju’s farewell performance.
2016: On November 19, 2013, HBO announced that it planned a TV series based on the novel with Billy Ray writing the script. On November 7, 2014, Amazon Studios picked up Billy Ray’s adaptation after HBO passed it off and announced it would be produced by Sony Pictures Television. On November 23, 2015, actor Matt Bomer was cast as Monroe Stahr, Lily Collins as Cecilia Brady, and it was announced that Ray would write and direct the pilot episode. The pilot was released June 17, 2016. The first season was released on July 28,
- Plans for the second season were cancelled in September 2017.
2016: Simon Levy’s stage adaptation, authorized by the Fitzgerald Estate, had its European premiere, opening at the Arts Theatre in London on August 17, 2016. Produced by Ruby In The Dust Theatre with the permission of the author. Directed by Linnie Reedman.
