Director Baz Luhrmann's called it a "great honour" for his new film "The Great Gatsby" to be opening this year's Cannes film festival.

It'll be the second time for the Australian filmmaker after his musical film "Moulin Rouge" starring Nicole Kidman, opened there back in 2001.

Luhrmann's latest project adapts novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald's account of "Roaring Twenties" America, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead as Jay Gatsby.

The Hollywood actor is also set join his director as well as co-star Carey Mulligan and Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan for the film's glitzy opening red carpet.

It'll be DiCaprio's first time here since 2007.

The Cannes film festival kicks off on May 15, with U.S. director Steven Spielberg heading this year's jury.

The city also provides a matching fit for the gala event, as Fitzgerald wrote part of his novel at a villa only a short distance away from the famous Croisette waterfront .