When they open their mouths to speak and Shakespeare pours out, it almost feels forced.

In the opening scenes, the shirtless and crude Montague boys feud with the slick Capulet gang in cowboy boots as “Pretty Piece of Flesh” by One Inch Punch blares in the background. Danes’ quiet –– and at times unassured –– delivery hammers home the “teenage love” motif.Īt times, the contrast of modernity with the film’s insistence on the original script is off-putting and even jarring. The story of Romeo and Juliet is a story of inexperienced, desperate, naive yearning. They were both young and (relatively) inexperienced actors at the time, yet in an interesting way, their youth only strengthens the film. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, a charmingly innocent and devastatingly youthful Romeo and Juliet, give a masterful delivery of the language. However, the integrity of the dialogue is maintained, with Luhrmann retaining the style of late 16th century English against a modern setting. He switches a few characters between the Montague and Capulet families, and Lord and Lady Montague and Capulet are given first names, which they didn’t have in the original play.

In fact, except for a few small modifications to the original characters, Luhrmann stays completely true to Shakespeare's script. Although his unabashed and reckless style occasionally clouds the purity of the original play, Luhrmann’s work has stood the test of time as a blazing, brilliant and vibrant love story whose actors and scenery bring the script to life.įor a film that attempts to reframe the way we see 'Romeo and Juliet,' it certainly doesn’t rewrite a single word. Luhrmann, the famed Australian director whose work spans film, operas, and television, is known for his bold and inventive style, with works such as “Moulin Rouge!” and “The Great Gatsby.” 25 years ago, with Venice-beach style iconography and a soundtrack featuring Radiohead, Luhrmann ventured to create a timeless reinvention of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy. In Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet,” Romeo is in Verona Beach - perhaps ensnared in a fiery gas station gunfight, playing billiards in a deteriorating warehouse, or speeding with the Capulet cousins in a silver 1976 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham convertible.

Play script of romeo and juliet