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(Has Olivia Rodrigo watched Romeo + Juliet yet? Inquiring minds need to know.) The moment is so emo that any teen-regardless of era-could relate.
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He’s journaling-brooding over his unrequited love for Rosaline, the unseen niece of Lord Capulet (in the 1996 adaptation, his full name is Fulgencio Capulet).Īs he smokes a cigarette and roams around the sandy, orange-drenched beach, Radiohead’s “Talk Show Host” starts playing. When we first meet DiCaprio as our forlorn Romeo, he’s sitting by the water at sunset, wearing a suit jacket over a white shirt unbuttoned at the collar. And then there’s Paul Rudd, whose ageless charm somehow makes Dave Paris-the nobleman Juliet’s parents are trying to set her up with-a rather lovable character, despite being totally oblivious to the fact that Juliet is enamored with someone else.īeyond the cinematography and cast, the film is also uniquely marked by its soundtrack, which is equal parts electric and somber. Leguizamo’s Tybalt is snaky and fueled by a constant need for rage and revenge Perrineau’s Mercutio lives for the spotlight and bending and blurring gender norms.īoth ping-pong between unapologetically flamboyant and hopelessly vulnerable, and their performances leave absolutely everything on the screen.
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In addition to the two leads, John Leguizamo as Tybalt and Harold Perrineau as Mercutio are also perfectly cast, bringing not just diversity in terms of ethnicity and skin color, but also diversity of craft and interpretation. Claire Danes followed a similar path after stepping into the role of Juliet, becoming a sought-after actress who’s still serving up emotions as the queen of ugly crying.

Making him Romeo all but cemented his heartthrob status and propelled him into a new level of celebritydom. Leonardo DiCaprio is in a league of his own today, but back in 1996, he was still pre- Titanic and had done mostly television up to that point.

Part of what makes Luhrmann’s adaptation so accessible are its stars. Maybe not within the span of 24 hours, but still, it feels like it could happen. It seems completely plausible that these spoiled kids from wealthy, warring families would cross paths and end up falling for one another. As over-the-top as Romeo + Juliet may be, there’s an unsettling realism to Luhrmann’s contemporary retelling of the age-old story. Luhrmann’s lavish, visually indulgent interpretation helped bring these themes to life for a new generation. The play may be about a teen romance, but it’s also about the ways in which class, family, and religion shape who and what we love. Of course, everyone knows this story will end tragically, but before then, a lot has to happen.

What follows are two hours of unrelenting action and drama set against the most widely read love story of all time.
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Set in a fictional, modern-day Verona Beach (a real-life mash-up of Miami, Mexico City, and Boca del Rio, Veracruz), the movie opens with a news anchor reading the play’s famous prologue and setting the scene for “where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”
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So when my teacher rolled in the TV on wheels and popped in the VHS tape of Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 version-which marks its 25th anniversary today-my peers and I were predictably skeptical.īut it didn’t take long for even the most Shakespeare-averse student to become totally enthralled with the dizzying, vibrant cinematography that’s now a cornerstone of Luhrmann’s canon. When my class watched Romeo and Juliet, Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film adaptation, it didn’t offer much help in translating the words of the 16th-century playwright for a 21st-century audience. But in the new millennium, literature teachers were facing unchartered territory in the battle for students’ attention spans. Shakespeare had long carried the reputation of being tough to teach, as language has evolved over the centuries. It was the early 2000s: the era of flip phones, AIM, and Myspace. I was in my ninth grade English class when I watched Romeo + Juliet for the first time.
