1990 Film of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet

Attention:  Everything on this page refers to the  film vesion Romeo+Juliet, a film which differs in many ways from Shakespeare's play.  Be aware of such differences when they occur.

Edited on this page by Mrs. Deborah Cox, English Professor, Montgomery College*

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet is an Academy Award-nominated, BAFTA-winning 1996 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, directed by Baz Luhrmann.

Overview

This film is a transposition of Shakespeare's play into the present day, with swords replaced by guns and castles by skyscrapers. this film  was obviously intended to appeal to a young, modern audience. However, for the most part, the film retains Shakespeare's original dialogue for each of the characters. Many lines in the play refer to weapons, so to save changing Shakespeare's script, the cast wield guns with fictional brand names like "Sword 9mm" or "Dagger."  Lord Montague's "Longsword" in the film is a South African MAG-7 shotgun.

The plot of the film is largely true to the play.  The film differs from the play in that the character Paris (or Dave Paris, the character's modern renaming) is not killed, and that the Montagues provoke the initial fight instead of the Capulets (though in the play, the Capulets wanted to fight, and they are still seen as the more aggressive in most of the film). In addition, the famous balcony scene takes place in a swimming pool! The film also removes the scene in the play in which Friar Laurence speaks to Juliet after she awakens to find Romeo dead ( moments before she kills herself). The movie goes directly from Romeo's death to Juliet's. Much of the film's story takes place in a fictional area called Verona Beach (oddly reminiscent of Venice Beach in California). At the beginning of the film, Sampson and Gregory are displayed as Montagues, and friends of Benvolio, and Abraham as a Capulet, while in the play it is the other way around.

Cast

• Pete Postlethwaite - Friar Laurence
• Vondie Curtis-Hall - Captain Escalus Prince
• Jesse Bradford - Balthasar
• M. Emmet Walsh - Apothecary
• Zak Orth - Gregory
• Jamie Kennedy - Sampson
• Dash Mihok - Benvolio Montague

 Response

According to film ranking site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 74% "fresh" rating. ^[1]    Financially, the film was very successful, making USD $147 million worldwide at the box office ^[2] on a USD $14.5 million budget.

Awards and nominations

At the Berlin International Film Festival in 1997, it won the following awards:

       Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) * Alfred Bauer Prize

       Second best actor (Claire Danes)

At the 1996 Academy Awards, it received the following nominations:

• Best Art Direction (Catherine Martin)
• Set Decoration (Brigitte Broch)

Music

The film made use of modern alternative rock and pop music coupled with a dramatic symphonic score by Nellee Hooper, Craig Armstrong, and Marius De Vries. The film's soundtrack was also noted for featuring choral renditions of the songs "When Doves Cry" and "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)" performed by Quindon Tarver.

The soundtrack album of the film was issued in two volumes, with the first release containing most of the songs from the film, featuring artists such as Everclear, Garbage and Des'ree, with Volume 2 containing the original score along with dialogue extracts from the film. The film also featured the Radiohead song "Exit Music (For a Film)" in the closing credits; however, the song did not appear on the soundtrack album (it was later included on the album OK Computer ). "Talk Show Host", a second Radiohead song appeared instead.

A number of hit singles resulted from the soundtrack, including "Lovefool" by The Cardigans, the love theme "Kissing You" by Des'ree, a cover of "Young Hearts Run Free" by Kym Mazelle and Quindon Tarver's remixed version of "When Doves Cry". Tarver's rendition of "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)" was later used in Luhrmann's "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" single.

The soundtrack was a popular and solid seller, and was especially successful in Luhrmann's Australia, where it was the second highest selling album in Australia in 1997, going five times Platinum in sales.^[3] A 10th Anniversary release of the soundtrack with bonus tracks also eventuated.

Trivia

• Several Actresses auditioned and were considered for the role of Juliet. Both Natalie Portman and Christina Ricci were considered for the parts but were turned down due to the age difference between each of them and Leonardo DiCaprio. Reese Witherspoon, Kate Winslet, and Sarah Michelle Gellar all auditioned for the role and were seriously considered. Claire Danes and Jennifer Love Hewitt were the final two candidates for the role of Juliet. However, Jennifer Love Hewitt lost out at the last minute to Claire Danes because the director felt Hewitt wasn't modern enough for the part and Danes ended up winning the role which later won her the Golden Globe.

Christian Bale auditioned for the roles of "Romeo" and "Mercutio" but was rejected by the director because he didn't feel he was right for either of the parts.

• The Sword and Dagger handguns that were used in the film were standard Beretta 92FS (Abra & Petruchio), Para Ordnance P14 45. caliber (Romeo, Sampson & Gergory) and Taurus PT92 9mm Parabellum (Benvolio, Mercutio & Tybalt) handguns that were fitted with customized slides and accessories by Charles Taylor of Movie Armaments Group. Pistols and revolvers that were made by firearms companies like Para Ordnance and Taurus International were also used by the main characters in the film. The Verona Beach Police were armed with standard military and law-enforcement firearms with the police SWAT teams using firearms like the FN FAL automatic rifle, the M4 Carbine, the M16 rifle, the Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine gun, and the Heckler & Koch G3 automatic rifle.

• The pool scene was shot in cold water tanks.

• For the role of Juliet Capulet, Claire Danes had to wear a wig. She even wore an aquatic wig while filming the water scenes.

• The set was built entirely inside the studios in Mexico City.

• Romeo carries a Para Ordnance p. 13.

• The scenes that depict the outside of Capulet mansion are actually of a Mexican museum. It was used as the outside representation of the Capulet's home. Tourists toured the museum as the studio decorated it.

• Shakespearian quotes are seen in the graffiti in the background. It was often done by the cast in between breaks.

References

 External links

• Official website
• Romeo + Juliet at the Internet Movie Database

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