"The Great Gatsby" may have been declared "rotten" by film critic aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, but "Game of Thrones" author George R.R. Martin thinks Baz Luhrmann's flashy 3D novel adaptation is the best to date.
Or at least better than Jack Clayton's 1974 version, which starred Robert Redford in the titular role, opposite Mia Farrow as Daisy.
Also read: 'The Great Gatsby' Review: How Many Flappers Make a Flop?
"I loved it," Martin wrote on his blog. "I've never seen the two oldest versions of 'Gatsby,' but the Luhrmann films stands head and shoulders above the beautiful but curiously empty Robert Redford/ Mia Farrow version."
Although he described himself as "a word guy first and foremost," Martin praised Luhrmann's visuals as "amazing" and countered any critics complaining about over-the-top imagery by excusing it as a "dreamscape."
"I don't think it would be correct to say that it brings 1920s New York to life, since I doubt that 1920s NYC was ever so saturated with color, life, sound," he wrote. "This is a dreamscape, everything bigger, brighter, noisier, drenched in life and color … but that's perfectly appropriate here, since the entire narrative is couched as Nick Carraway looking back on a formative time in his life, and dreams are always more intense than reality."
And despite Martin's "doubts" about Leonardo DiCaprio portraying the titular literary icon, he argues the movie star is at his best because he allowed himself to appear far more vulnerable than Redford's scene-commanding approach — "the antithesis of Gatsby."
Carey Mulligan, who plays Daisy in the Warner Bros. film, also helped turn Martin into a fan because she made him "understand Gatsby's obsessions in a way that the Mia Farrow's Daisy never did."
"I would be have been obsessed as well," he added.
Now when are DiCaprio and Mulligan visiting Westeros?