» Romeo + Juliet

» Synopsis

"Two households, both alike in dignity/In fair Verona (where we lay our scene/From ancient grudge break new mutiny,/Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean/From forth the fatal loins of these two foes/A pair of star-crossed lovers take their lives." These famous lines and the vivid language of Shakespeare's beloved play drive director Baz Luhrmann's cinematic interpretation. Welcome to Verona Beach, a sexy, violent other-world, neither future nor past, ruled by two rival families, the Montagues and the Capulets. Wealthy, selfish, ruthless and powerful, the parents share an enmity that has become the birthright of their offspring.

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Director: Baz Luhrmann Writers: William Shakespeare (play) and Craig Pearce (screenplay) Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio ... Romeo Pete Postlethwaite ... Father Laurence John Leguizamo ... Tybalt Dash Mihok ... Benvolio Zak Orth ... Gregory Vincent Laresca ... Abra Paul Rudd ... Dave Paris Jamie Kennedy ... Sampson Claire Danes ... Juliet Miriam Margolyes ... Nurse Jesse Bradford ... Balthasar Harold Perrineau Jr ... Mercutio Diane Venora ... Gloria Capulet Paul Sorvino ... Fulgencio Capulet Brian Dennehy ... Ted Montague Christina Pickles ... Caroline Montague Vondie Curtis Hall ... Captain Prince M. Emmet Walsh ... Apothecary Des' Ree ... Diva Edwina Moore ... Anchorwoman Released on: November 1, 1996

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There are various bill boards throughout the movie that contain quotes from other William Shakespeare plays: - 'Shoot forth thunder' (the gun advert) is from 'The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth', Act IV, Scene I, Line 109. - 'Experience is by industry achiev'd' (in the Capulet lift) is from 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona', Act I, Scene III, Line 25. - 'Such stuff as dreams are made on' (another advert) is from 'The Tempest', Act IV, Scene I, Lines 168-169. Prospero (the name of the drink in the advert) is the player who says these lines. At the gas station, one of the Montague boys recites the Macbeth witches' chant to the nun and two passing students. The pool hall is called "Globe," after the Globe Theatre in London where these plays were first performed.

Ewan McGregor, Christian Bale, and John Leguizamo auditioned for the role of Mercutio before Baz Luhrmann decided to make Mercutio black. Benicio Del Toro was considered for the part of Tybalt.

A number of important moments (and a lot of trivial ones) involve water. When we first see Juliet, she is holding her head under water; when Romeo and Juliet first see each other, it's through a fish tank; the balcony scene is moved from a balcony to a swimming pool; Mercutio is killed at the beach; when Tybalt is shot, he falls into a pond; when the banished Romeo comes to Juliet's room he is drenched from the pouring rain, and when he leaves the next morning he falls into the pool again

The majority of sets were built from scratch in order to achieve the film's unique look. The Sycamore Grove theatre and huts on Verona Beach were actually destroyed by a hurricane during filming. The beginning of the hurricane is evident during Mercutio's death scene, and many pick up shots had to be filmed elsewhere.

Cameo: [Catherine Martin, Kym Barrett] The production designer and the costume designer make cameo appearances as Gloria Capulet's maids. They are seen in the film dressing Juliet's mother in her Cleopatra costume before the ball.

Claire Danes wears a wig throughout the movie and also had a special aquatic wig for her underwater scenes.

The film runs for exactly two hours, in line with the prologue which states: "Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage".

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kate Winslet and Christina Ricci were considered for Juliet. Gellar's commitment to "All My Children" (1970) interfered, and Hewitt was considered too youthful-looking. Natalie Portman was also considered and even flew to director Baz Luhrmann's hometown, Sydney, to film scenes with Leonardo DiCaprio, when 20th Century Fox couldn't quite visualize the director's off-the-wall concept. Luhrmann says, "Although she's a fantastic young actor, she's a tiny little girl and Leonardo's six feet tall. He's 21, but can look 18. She made him look all of 21, and it just became obscene." Portman's version is this: "They said it looked like Leonardo was molesting me when we kissed. It was really disappointing, but I wouldn't have wanted to be in the movie and have it look wrong. If I was in the film, I would have wanted it to be perfect."

Cameo: [Martin Brown] The film's co-producer is the security man sitting at the monitors in the balcony scene.

Cameo: [John 'Cha Cha' O'Connell] The choreographer plays the waiter at Sycamore Grove just before Mercutio's death scene.

The music playing as Juliet shoots herself at the end of the film is Isolde's 'Liebestod' from Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde (1974), where it is used in the exact same context.

All the guns in the film are named after types of swords. The handguns belonging to Benvolio (SWORD 9mm Series S), Mercutio (DAGGER 9mm) and Tybalt (RAPIER 9mm) are Taurus PT92 or PT99 9mm Parabellum pistols. The handguns used by Romeo, Sampson and Gregory (DAGGER .45s) are Colt M-1911 Combat Commander .45 caliber pistols. The other handguns used by Abra and Petruchio are Beretta 92FS 9mm Pistols. Ted Montague's "Longsword" is actually a South African MAG-7 shotgun.

Baz Luhrmann sent British alternative-rock band Radiohead a videotape containing the last 20 minutes of the movie and asked them to make a song for the end credits. They composed the song "Exit Music (for a film)", which appeared on their 1997 album "OK Computer" (the director has said in the DVD commentary that he believes it's one of the best exit themes ever written)

Leonardo DiCaprio's version of Romeo's speech at Juliet's bier was so good it moved Claire Danes to tears, nearly ruining the scene. The moment the director yelled "cut!," Danes smacked DiCaprio on the arm and said, "Don't make me cry. I'm supposed to be comatose, here!"

Like most of William Shakespeare's work, the verse of Romeo and Juliet is written in iambic pentameter. Pete Postlethwaite, who plays Father Laurence, is the only actor in the movie who speaks using this meter.

Key hair stylist Aldo Signoretti was kidnapped by gang members and held for $300 ransom which Baz Luhrmann paid.

When Tybalt's car rolls over, the roll cage, which is used to protect the stunt driver, collapsed, almost breaking the stunt driver's neck.

Leonardo DiCaprio was Baz Luhrmann's first choice to play Romeo.

In Baz Luhrmann's native Australia, the soundtrack was the second highest selling album of the year, going platinum five times.

Claire Danes was only three years older than the character she played. It was her first ever experience of performing Shakespeare.

In an effort to drum up the necessary funds from the backers, Leonardo DiCaprio flew to Australia on his own dime and performed an on-spec audition video with Baz Luhrmann.

The Jesus statue that dominates Verona was actually a visual effect. In reality, it was 2 feet high.

Shakespeare described Tybalt swordsmanship as "showy". To transform this into flamboyant gunplay, John Leguizamo worked with choreographer John 'Cha Cha' O'Connell to create a flamenco-inspired style.

The opening gas station encounter took 7 days to film with 2 days of pick-ups in Vera Cruz.

Cinematographer Donald McAlpine was faced with a real problem with the meet-cute scene between Romeo and Juliet at the fish tank - the reflections of the water and the glass of the tank were almost impossible to light without causing all sorts of untoward reflections. McAlpine solved the problem by inserting a couple of fluorescent tubes into the tank out of the camera's eyeline. These were the sole source of light in the scene.

Claire Danes's first day on set filming with Leonardo DiCaprio was the topless scene after Romeo and Juliet have first spent the night together.

Romeo and Juliet first kiss which takes place in a cramped elevator with the camera dizzyingly swirling around them was achieved by making the elevator into sections and putting the camera on a circular dolly. As it spun round, stage hands would lift and very hurriedly replace the elevator panels to accommodate the bulky camera equipment.