'Epic' Great Gatsby trailer debuts (+video)

It's sexy, lavish and decadent - and if the first glimpse of Baz Luhrmann's highly anticipated film The Great Gatsby is anything to go by, we're in for a treat.

After months of waiting, the trailer for the epic period drama, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, made its debut online today.

Opening in the bright lights of New York City viewers are swept into the elite social circles of the Big Apple's wealthiest people.

A mysterious masculine voice says: "New York 1922, the tempo of the city had changed sharply. The buildings were higher, the parties were bigger, the morals were looser and the liquor was cheaper.''

In true Luhrmann style the sets are visually stunning, reminiscent of the Australian director's previous films Moulin Rouge and Romeo & Juliet.

With attention to detail in costuming and styling, there are gorgeous, sexy gowns adorned with sequins, feather boas, overflowing champagne flutes, long cigars and fireworks, which capture the time and mood of the Roaring Twenties.

Giving it an edgy feel for modern audiences are the beats of Kanye West and Jay-Z's No Church In The Wild followed by Jack White's cover of U2's hit Love Is Blindness.

Filmed in Sydney late last year, the movie, based on F Scott Fitzgerald's novel, has attracted a host of other Hollywood and Australian stars including Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jack Thompson and Gemma Ward.

The Great Gatsby will be released in early 2012.

Watch the trailer for The Great Gatsby:

- AAP