Amitabh Bachchan on ‘The Great Gatsby’: I have a one-minute role!

But the legendary superstar says it was great working on a Hollywood film, and that he’s done the cameo for free

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan says he has not charged anything for his appearance in director Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. “The role is small, hardly of a minute. Baz Luhrmann was touring India couple of years ago, going all around the country, he dropped in at my office with a friend who did some painting work for me. We just had a casual conversation and he left,” Big B told reporters on Wednesday in Mumbai.

“Year-and-a-half ago he called me and said he has a role for me which he said was not worthy and said if I will do it. I readily agreed. As a gesture it is not remunerative. I have not charged anything. I did it just for a gesture,” added the Indian superstar who will be seen as Meyer Wolfsheim in the movie.

A book-to-screen adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s bestseller of the same name, the film has Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire in the lead roles. The film is scheduled for a December 2012 release.

“My experience with Baz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey and Carey was wonderful. Many films have been made on this. It is the third edition. Huge amount of detailing, research has been done. Their whole system of working is so organised and it is a great pleasure to be working with them,” said Amitabh about his debut Hollywood film.