Isla Fisher spent three weeks immersed in New York's jazz culture to prepare for her role in the upcoming Hollywood adaptation of The Great Gatsby.

The Australian star threw herself into researching the Roaring Twenties, when jazz music blossomed, after she was cast as Myrtle Wilson in director Baz Luhrmann's telling of F. Scott Fitzgerald's literary classic.

Fisher travelled to the Big Apple to study with Luhrmann and his star-studded cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby, and Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire.

She tells Canada's Fashion magazine, "Research-wise, this is the most thorough movie I've been on. We had a three-week rehearsal period in New York, when we got really immersed in the '20s, studied flapper girls and read Fitzgerald's letters to (his wife) Zelda.

"We had access to so much more information than (on) a regular film because Baz is such a wonderful director. We had all the music for that period playing, and we were introduced to loads of visuals. It was like a Jazz Age boot camp!"