Before “William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet” was made they needed to decide on a setting. This was a hard task as the setting needed to be modern but still have things in common with 17th century Verona, so that the plot and text of the original Shakespeare play could fit in to the new urban setting. Verona Beach in Mexico was perfect not only did it share the same name as the original setting but it had many other elements in common to. Verona beach was chosen because religion was still a big thing there as it was in Verona Italy this was shown by having a large statue of Jesus in the centre of Verona. There guns and clothing are also covered with images of Christ or Mary, a vast majority of the characters also wear crucifixes. Sex before marriage is frowned upon in both settings making Verona beach a obvious location for the movie. In Mexico city there are streets full with bridal shops and nothing else as it was in Elizabethan times. It has been said that Verona beach is like 17th century Verona Italy because has “a few very rich people with guns and the vast majority poor” the social systems are very similar.
Baz Luhrmann edited a lot of text down from the original script, which helped the success of the film. He cut the lines which cannot be transferred to 20th century context are cut such as the convocation between Romeo and the Apothecary, this convocation still takes place but in a much reduced way. Baz Luhrmann also cuts a lot of the complex imagery as it would not have been as appealing to a younger audience. Luhrmann’s version of the script is far more concise than the original and does not overwhelm the audience with too difficult language making the film far more successful with the younger viewers. Shakespeare’s script was written for a very basic set but the film’s setting was very elaborate so no complex imagery or soliloquies are needed as the setting speaks for its self. Baz Luhrmann made the Shakespearian play far more concise, slick and easier to understand which helped make the film be so successful.
As I already mentioned in my introduction bringing the play up to date made the film highly successful. This is shown in almost every scene in the play. It’s shown in the opening scenes to the movie when the “Montague Boys” arrive in a bright yellow car with modern music blaring out of the stereo. They almost look like college beach boys, with their Hawaiian shirts and baggy trousers. This was a very good way to start the film as it gave it a modern “cool” look which would be appealing to the younger audience. They was also a car chase scene which is common in modern day movies in which Tybalt’s car crashed and rolled over stunts and special effects were used for this scene which helped the film be a action movie as well as romantic, this would of appealed to a broader amount of people therefore making the film even more successful.
To make the Shakespeare play modern Baz Luhrmann had to deal with references to older things in Shakespeare’s original text. One of theses references were Swords. What Baz Luhrmann did was revamped it from a sword carrying society to a gun carrying society but still using the same fighting codes such as not shooting someone in the back and only having one bullet in a duel. So the script would fit in to the modern setting with guns the make of the guns in the movie were called “Swords”. Another element from the original script that had to be changed was “The Prince”, instead of having “The Prince of Verona” the story was changed so “The Prince” was “The Chief of Police” who was named prince.
Baz Luhrmann did not want to escape from Shakespeare when he made the movie. We know this because he called the film “William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet”. He called the film this because he wanted to maintain strong links to Shakespeare and to say that he hasn’t changed the original script completely he’d just made it more accessible.
Baz Luhrmann reminds the audience that Shakespeare is very important to him by putting small references to other Shakespeare plays through out the film. Such as when Benvolio says, “Hubble bubble toil and trouble” this is a quote from the Shakespeare play ‘Macbeth’. There is also a sign at the gas station which said “Add Fuel to Your Fire” which is another quote from a Shakespeare play. Romeo and Benvolio play pool in “The Globe Bar” “The Globe” is the name of the theatre where Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed.
The characters were presented in a very unique way compared to previous Romeo and Juliet films; I think this was mainly because of the actors chosen which I will discuss further later. Romeo was presented in a very different way to how he was presented in Zeffirelli’s film. He was portrayed as a extremely passionate person who could easily lose his temper, this is shown in the fight scene with Tybalt, when he is resighting passionate poetry then 5 minutes later he is violently fighting with Tybalt.
Juliet is portrayed as she was in Zeffirelli’s film, young and innocent. This is helped by the music played, when Juliet is alone in her room the Radiohead track “Talk Show Host” is playing which is a very calm and innocent song, and I think this helps portray her innocence.
When Luhrmann first had to select the actors to play Romeo and Juliet it was no easy task. He needed to find two actors that were both young enough and experienced enough to play two of the most complicated characters in the history of film and theater. Luhrmann selected Leonardo DiCaprio to play the part of Romeo and Claire Danes to play the part of Juliet. Leonardo DiCaprio was selected because he was a young well known actor who had stared in the film ‘Basketball Diaries’ in which he gave an amazing performance of a drug abused teenager. Leonardo’s next project after Romeo and Juliet was the box office smash Titanic which is further more evidence that Leonardo was the perfect choice for the part of Romeo.
Claire Danes was selected as she had stared in the critically acclaimed ‘My so called life’ which was a hit TV show in the united states. She also appeared in the heart warming film “Little Women”
The actors featured in Luhrmann’s film did an excellent job in portraying the two young lovers. Throughout the film, Shakespeare’s poetic language is spoken perfectly. The terrific cast was led by Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, and they had an extremely hard job to do. Nonetheless, Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes on screen chemistry overcomes the complicated language to produce the world famous tragic love story for today’s movie going audiences. According to George Bernard Shaw playing the parts of Romeo and Juliet is “almost impossible, except to actors of pure genius, skilled to the last degree in metrical declamation, by the way in which the poetry, magnificent as it is, is interlarded by the miserable rhetoric and silly logical conceits which were the foible of the Elizabethans”.
Over four hundred years ago Shakespeare wrote a classic story that has been retold for centuries, Baz Luhrmann then went against expectations to create a modernized version of the play. The new version, in my opinion, is a much better than the original version of the story. Not only does it depict the original tale, it adds visual stimuli to help draw the viewer in. Even Though William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet has many differences from original script, it supports the original characters, themes, dialogue, and all the key issues of the classic tale of the ‘star-crossed lovers’ , yet it revamps the original script with special effects and a new modern setting. This brilliant combination of Shakespeare’s classic tail and wonderful language and Baz Luhrmanns new modern setting and special effects created one of the most amazing and different films of all time.
