Romeo + Juliet
Romeo + Juliet | |
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![]() Theatrical poster for William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet | |
Directed by | Baz Luhrmann |
Written by | Play: William Shakespeare Screenplay: Craig Pearce Baz Luhrmann |
Produced by | Baz Luhrmann Gabriella Martinelli |
Starring | Leonardo DiCaprio Claire Danes John Leguizamo Harold Perrineau Pete Postlethwaite Paul Sorvino Brian Dennehy Paul Rudd Vondie Curtis-Hall Miriam Margolyes Jesse Bradford Dash Mihok Vincent Laresca |
Cinematography | Donald McAlpine |
Edited by | Jill Bilcock |
Music by | Nellee Hooper (Composer) Craig Armstrong (Composer) (Orchestrator) (Conductor) Marius De Vries (Composer) |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release dates | November 1, 1996 |
Running time | 124 mins. |
Country | ![]() |
Language | English |
Budget | $14,500,000 (estimated) |
Box office | $147,311,378 |
William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet is a 1996 American film and the 10th on-screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy of the same name. It was directed by Australian Baz Luhrmann and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the eponymous roles.
The film is a modernization of Shakespeare's play, designed to appeal to a younger modern audience. The warring families (the Montagues and the Capulets) are represented as warring business empires and swords are replaced by guns. The film retains Shakespeare's original dialogue, albeit edited down for brevity.
Overview
Most of the film's story takes place in the fictional city called "Verona Beach". As with the play, a brief part of the film takes place in a location known as Mantua, which is depicted here as a trailer park in a desert-like hinterland. Verona Beach is the center of a corporate war between two leaders of industry, "Montague" and "Capulet", rather than just a mere family feud. Prince Escalus is renamed "Captain Prince", and instead of being Prince of Verona, he is the Chief of the Verona Beach Police Department. His relationship to Paris (called "Dave Paris" in the movie) is removed from the film. Romeo's and Juliet's parents are given names here too, the names in this case being Ted and Caroline Montague and Fulgencio and Gloria Capulet. Dave Paris is stated as being the Governor's son rather than a nobleman, and throughout the film he speaks in a conceited and pompous manner around Juliet and her father. He only wants to marry her for wealth and ego rather than real love.
In addition to the characters being updated, many of the props were replaced with analogous contemporary props. In place of swords, the characters wield guns with fictional brand names like "Sword 9mm" (which was used in the beginning gas station shootout), "Dagger" (which Mercutio throws to the ground before using his fists), or "Rapier" (Which belonged to Tybalt, and Romeo uses it to shoot Tybalt); Lord Montague's "Longsword" is a South African MAG-7 shotgun. Instead of chasing Tybalt on foot, Romeo and Tybalt engage in a car chase. Romeo crashes out Tybalt's car by the central fountain of the city, during which Romeo presses the barrel of Tybalt's pistol to his head and asks him to end his life. Tybalt refuses and in a resurgence of anger Romeo kills Tybalt with his own custom handgun. Although most of the fights are done with guns (and fists) instead of swords, Mercutio's death comes at the hands of Tybalt wielding a large shard of glass found on the beach. Mercutio's "Queen Mab" is an ecstasy-like drug in the form of a pill that he takes before attending the Capulet party. Friar Lawrence gives the letter for Romeo in Mantua to a postal service called "Post Haste".
Production
Most of the film was shot in Mexico City and Veracruz, but other parts were shot in Miami. The Capulet mansion was set at Chapultepec Castle while the ballroom was built on Stage One of Churubusco Studios; and the church is Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in the Del Valle neighborhood.[1]
In the play... | In the film... |
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The play is set in Shakespherean times | The story is set in the contemporary era |
The characters use swords | They use guns |
Escalus is the Prince of Verona | He is the Chief of Police |
There is a character named Peter who invites Romeo to the Capulet party | Peter is omitted |
Mercutio is stabbed by Tybalt's sword | Tybalt stabs him with a piece of glass. |
After Mercutio is killed, Romeo chases Tybalt on foot | Romeo gets into a car chase with Tybalt |
Tybalt dies being stabbed by Romeo | Romeo shoots him |
Benvolio shows up after Romeo kills Tybalt and tell Romeo to get out | Balthasar shows up |
Paris is killed by Romeo at Juliet's grave | Paris doesn't die at all |
Romeo dies before Juliet wakes up | Just as Romeo is about to die, Juliet wakes up. Romeo says to her, "Thus with this kiss I die" and dies. |
Juliet dies because she stabs herself with Romeo's sword | She shoots herself in the head. |
The final line is said by Prince Escalus | It is said by a news reporter on a T.V. |
Cast
- Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo Montague
- Claire Danes as Juliet Capulet
- John Leguizamo as Tybalt Capulet
- Harold Perrineau as Mercutio
- Dash Mihok as Benvolio Montague
- Pete Postlethwaite as Father Lawrence (changed form Friar Lawrence in the original play)
- Miriam Margolyes as Nurse Angelica
- Paul Rudd as Dave Paris
- Paul Sorvino as Fulgencio Capulet
- Diane Venora as Gloria Capulet
- Brian Dennehy as Ted Montague
- Christina Pickles as Caroline Montague
- Vondie Curtis-Hall as Captain Escalus Prince
- Jesse Bradford as Balthasar
- M. Emmet Walsh as Apothecary
- Zak Orth as Gregory
- Jamie Kennedy as Sampson
- Vincent Laresca as Abra
Leonardo DiCaprio was Luhrmann's first choice to play Romeo, while the casting of Juliet was a lengthy process. Sarah Michelle Gellar was originally offered the role of Juliet, but had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts with daytime soap opera All My Children. Natalie Portman eventually landed the role, even traveling to Sydney for rehearsals. After rehearsing a few scenes, however, the producers began to feel that she was too young for the role. According to Portman, they felt that the footage looked like DiCaprio was "molesting" her.[2] Eventually, Luhrmann agreed that the age difference between the two actors was too great. Filming was halted to find another actress for the part.
Response
Financially, the film was very successful, grossing USD$147 million worldwide at the box office[3] on a USD$14.5 million budget. The film premiered November 1, 1996 in the United States and Canada in 1,276 theaters and grossed $11.1 million its opening weekend, ranking #1 at the box office. It went on to gross $46.3 million in the United States and Canada.[4]
Critics gave the film generally positive reviews. According to the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 74% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 38 reviews.[5] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times disliked the film, giving it 2 stars and saying, "This production was a very bad idea ... I have never seen anything remotely approaching the mess that the new punk version of Romeo & Juliet makes of Shakespeare's tragedy." Ebert wrote that Pete Postlethwaite and Miriam Margolyes were "the only actors in the film who seem completely at home" and said, "In one grand but doomed gesture, writer-director Baz Luhrmann has made a film that (a) will dismay any lover of Shakespeare, and (b) bore anyone lured into the theater by promise of gang wars, MTV-style."[6]
The film won several awards.[7] At the Berlin International Film Festival in 1997, Leonardo DiCaprio won the Silver Bear Award for Best Actor and director Baz Luhrmann won the Alfred Bauer Award. Luhrmann was also nominated for the Golden Bear Award for Best Picture.[7]
Leonardo DiCaprio won Favorite Actor and Claire Danes won Favorite Actress in a Romance at the 1997 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.[7] At the 1997 MTV Movie Awards, Danes won Best Female Performance. DiCaprio was nominated for Best Male Performance, and DiCaprio and Danes were both nominated for Best Kiss and Best On-Screen Duo.[7] At the 51st BAFTA Film Awards, Baz Luhrmann won the award for Best Direction. Luhrmann and Craig Pearce won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Nellee Hooper won the award for Best Film Music. And Catherine Martin won the award for Best Production Design. The film was also nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Sound.[7]
At the 69th Academy Awards, Catherine Martin and Brigitte Broch were nominated for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration.[7]
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 to the film was issued in two volumes, with the first release containing most of the songs from the film and Volume 2 containing the original score.
Although the film featured the Radiohead song "Exit Music (For a Film)" in the closing credits, the song did not appear on Volume 1; "Talk Show Host", a different Radiohead song, featured heavily in the film overall, the entire song playing during a montage and the main riff playing at several pensive moments throughout the film.
A number of hit singles resulted from the soundtrack, including "Lovefool" by The Cardigans, "Kissing You" by Des'ree, "Young Hearts Run Free" covered by Kym Mazelle, "#1 Crush" by Garbage 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.
Choral arrangements were performed by Metro Voices.
The final scene in the film contains the final bars from Wagner's music-drama Tristan and Isolde.
The soundtrack was a popular and solid seller, and was especially successful in Luhrmann's native Australia, where it was the second highest selling album in Australia in 1997, going five times platinum in sales.[8] A 10th anniversary release of the soundtrack with bonus tracks also eventuated.
Further reading
- Lehmann, Courtney. "Strictly Shakespeare? Dead Letters, Ghostly Fathers, and the Cultural Pathology of Authorship in Baz Luhrmann's 'William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet'." Shakespeare Quarterly. 52.2 (Summer 2001) pp. 189–221.
References
- ^ "Romeo + Juliet - Official Website, Production Notes".
- ^ "UP AND COMING: Natalie Portman; Natalie Portman (Not Her Real Name)". February 25,1996.
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- ^ "Romeo + Juliet (1996)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
- ^ "Romeo + Juliet (1996) - Weekend Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
- ^ "William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
- ^ Roger Ebert (1996-11-01). ":: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: Romeo & Juliet". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
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(help) - ^ a b c d e f http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117509/awards Retrieved 2007-10-14
- ^ "Top 100 Albums 1997". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
External links
- 1996 films
- 1990s action films
- 1990s drama films
- American drama films
- English-language films
- 20th Century Fox films
- Estudios Churubusco films
- Romantic drama films
- Gangster films
- Shakespearean teen films
- Modern adaptations of works by William Shakespeare
- Teen romance films
- Tragedy films
- Films shot anamorphically
- Films directed by Baz Luhrmann