Leonardo DiCaprio was forced to skip the Australian premiere of his new movie The Great Gatsby to tend to a personal matter, according to the film's director.

The Titanic actor plays the title role in Baz Luhrmann's big screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, but he pulled out of plans to jet back to the country where the film was shot to attend the Sydney premiere on Wednesday night (22May13).

Luhrmann has revealed DiCaprio was forced to cancel his trip due to personal reasons, leaving the rest of the cast, including Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan, to continue promotional duties without him.

The director told reporters at the red carpet screening, "I know he made the right decision (not to attend). He shouldn't be here. There are things in your own personal life where you've got to draw a line and we talked about it. He did exactly the right thing in my opinion."

The movie suffered major delays as rain put a damper on filming in Australia and the premiere was also a sodden affair - guests walked the soaked red carpet with umbrellas.