Dr. W. Walter Menninger was surprised a couple of years ago when Baz Luhrmann, the famed director, writer and producer of The Great Gatsby, sought out his expertise in the feature film’s development stages —particularly because Menninger had never read the novel from which the film was being adapted.
In 1919 Menninger’s father, grandfather, and uncle started the Menninger Clinic, a groundbreaking psychiatric practice in Topeka, Kansas. The clinic moved to Houston in 2003 and has since expanded.
In order to include some of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s original language from the novel, which is written in first person from protagonist Nick Carraway’s perspective, Luhrmann had to find a way for Carraway to be writing in the film. After scouring archives and conducting exhaustive research on the Roaring Twenties, when the story is set, Luhrmann and his team decided it might be plausible for the narrator — overwhelmed by Jazz Age excess — to be in therapy.
“Luhrmann’s approach very much intrigued me. It made sense—having the patient articulate the story, writing about it if they’re not comfortable talking about it directly."
Through their research of 1920s psychiatric institutions, they stumbled upon the Menninger Clinic. Luhrmann knew he had to get in touch with Menninger, the retired president of the clinic who goes by “Dr. Walt,” and pick his brain about psychiatric methods from the time period.
He crossed his fingers that Menninger would confirm that writing was, in fact, a prevalent form of therapy at the time. The two planned a meeting in New York.
“Luhrmann’s approach very much intrigued me. It made sense—having the patient articulate the story, writing about it if they’re not comfortable talking about it directly,” Menninger told CultureMap. The doctor’s input “was an affirmation for Luhrmann.”
Luhrmann could breathe a sigh of relief now that he had been given the green light regarding the concept’s validity. He swore Menninger to secrecy and arranged another meeting, this time with the stars of the film, for several weeks later.
At this get-together Menninger was instructed to do some role-playing with Tobey Maguire, who portrays Carraway in the film. They were to act as therapist and patient, and the session was to be videotaped.
“Nick had gotten into a social situation with Gatsby that was in its own way corrupting. He was disillusioned with humankind, depressed, discouraged,” Menninger said. “It was a matter of helping him regain some sense of equilibrium and get over the depression.”
“I talked to him as if he were reluctant to talk,” he said. “I said, ‘Well, write it down.’ ”
What sort of treatment would Nick receive if he were around in 2013?
“He’d be given antidepressants and discharged. Maybe there would be a follow-up," said Menninger.
“Part of the difficulty in today’s world is that there’s a push to have a quick fix in two weeks."
“Part of the difficulty in today’s world is that there’s a push to have a quick fix in two weeks. People are not taking time to really work out the emotional stress they’re experiencing either by talking it out or writing it down like they did back in those days."
The Menninger Clinic is the exception in this case. The facility still has a focus on traditional psychotherapy with comprehensive, individualized treatment programs that run for six to eight weeks.
The premiere
The movie opens with a scene very reminiscent of Maguire and Menninger's role-play session. The audience gets a glimpse inside an eerily isolated building labeled “The Perkins Sanitarium.” A therapist, portrayed by Jack Thompson, thumbs Nick Carraway’s file, which lists morbid alcoholism, insomnia, fits of anger, and anxiety among his diagnoses.
“I had no idea that the brief encounter we had would have such an influence on the final product,” Menninger said. “There’s no question [Luhrmann] was most appreciative of my input.”
Menninger was instructed to do some role-playing with Tobey Maguire, who portrays Carraway in the film. They were to act as therapist and patient, and the session was to be videotaped.
Menninger attended the movie’s premiere and the party that followed at the Plaza Hotel.
“It was really a delight to see how they put it together,” he said. “It was so consistent with what I suggested.”
There were a few aspects of the film that necessitated some outside insight and research for Menninger.
“I didn’t realize, I must confess, when I went to the premiere, that they had given the psychiatrist my name,” he said. “Dr. Walter Perkins”— the name of the “warm psychiatrist who helps Nick find his voice”—was in fact a nod to Dr. Walt.
“I didn’t pick up on it, but my daughter recognized that [Jack Thompson] looked just like me,” he said. “Only afterwards did I notice the resemblance, looking in a mirror after the show.”
There was one aspect of the film that troubled him. How did the English Tudor brick building in Topeka translate to a castle on an island in the movie?
“I thought they kept the movie tasteful and appropriate. Other than having to cross a moat to get to the sanitarium!” Menninger laughed. "I thought, Oh my goodness, what is that from?"
After doing some investigating, the doctor discovered the inspiration for the setting choice. In a photo from Kansas’s archives of the early Menninger Clinic, there’s a pond on one side of the building that, from a certain angle, looks fairly imposing.
Make sure to watch the film’s end credits to see Menninger's shout-out. “You have to stay an extra 15 minutes!” he says.
Dr. Walter Menninger and his family at the opening of The Menninger Clinic’s new Mental Health Epicenter in 2012
