Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet arrived on November 1, 1996, with a tagline that tells you exactly what it thinks it is: “My only love sprung from my only hate.” The film runs 120 minutes. It is a drama and a romance, and it is the third major film version of William Shakespeare’s play, following George Cukor’s 1936 adaptation and Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 version. It grossed over $147 million against a $14.5 million budget. It is also, for long stretches, a music video with a body count.
Trailer, via BAFTA.
Verona Beach and the Prince’s Warning
Luhrmann moves the feud to Verona Beach, where the Capulets and Montagues are rival business empires. The older generation — Fulgencio and Gloria Capulet, Ted and Caroline Montague — carries the grudge, and their younger relatives feel it. The film opens with a shootout between Romeo’s cousin Benvolio and Juliet’s cousin Tybalt. Captain Prince, the chief of police, breaks it up and reprimands the families. He warns them that another such event will cost them their lives: their lives “shall pay the forfeit of the peace.”
The bard’s dialogue remains. That is the film’s central gamble, and it is the thing that dates it most.
The Party, the Drug, and the Restroom
Benvolio and Romeo learn of a Capulet party and decide to gate-crash. Romeo agrees only because Rosaline, with whom he is madly in love, will be there. He and Benvolio meet Mercutio, who has tickets, and Romeo takes ecstasy as they head to the Capulet mansion. The drug and the party overwhelm him. He goes to the restroom. There he sees Juliet, and they fall in love, each unaware of who the other is.
Tybalt spots Romeo and vows to kill him for trespassing. After Romeo leaves, he and Juliet learn they belong to the feuding families. He returns to propose. She tells him that if he sends word by the following day, they will be betrothed. The next day Romeo asks Father Laurence to marry them, and he agrees. Romeo passes the word through Juliet’s nurse. They marry.
Casting Choices That Shaped the Film
The casting history is worth a table, because it explains the film’s temperature better than any scene does.
| Role | Cast | Considered or replaced |
|---|---|---|
| Juliet | Claire Danes | Natalie Portman was cast first, then dropped |
| Mercutio | Harold Perrineau | Christian Bale read for the part |
| Juliet (earlier) | — | Sarah Michelle Gellar turned it down over scheduling |
Natalie Portman had been cast as Juliet but was replaced during rehearsals. The footage looked as though DiCaprio was “molesting” her, and it was thought she looked too young for the part. Luhrmann said Portman was too young and made DiCaprio look older than intended. DiCaprio was 21 at the time of filming. Portman was 14.
After Sarah Michelle Gellar turned down the role due to scheduling conflicts, DiCaprio pushed for Danes. He felt she was genuine in her line delivery and did not try to impress him by acting flirtatious. Christian Bale read for Mercutio. Harold Perrineau got it.
Berlin, the Oscars, and the Beach Duel
The film’s awards run is on the record. In 1997, at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival, DiCaprio took the Silver Bear for Best Actor and Luhrmann took the Alfred Bauer Prize. The Academy recognition came at the 69th Oscars, where Catherine Martin and Brigitte Broch were nominated for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration. In 2005, the film landed on the BFI list of the “50 films you should watch by the age of 14.” It was re-released in 2002 in Luhrmann’s Red Curtain Trilogy DVD box set alongside Strictly Ballroom (1992) and Moulin Rouge! (2001).
The beach scene is where the film’s two halves collide. Tybalt finds the Montagues and Mercutio. Romeo arrives and tries to make peace. Tybalt assaults him. Mercutio intervenes and batters Tybalt, and is about to kill him when Romeo stops it. Tybalt takes the opening and fatally wounds Mercutio, who curses both houses before dying. Romeo chases Tybalt.
What the Film Gets Right, and What It Burns
The case for Romeo + Juliet is that it commits. Luhrmann does not hedge the concept. The Prince is the chief of police. The choir sings. DiCaprio and Danes are believable teenagers, and Perrineau’s Mercutio is the film’s best performance — the only one that matches the movie’s pitch without straining against it.
The case against is that the pitch is exhausting, and the Shakespearean English sits awkwardly inside it. The film’s defenders call that tension the point. It is not always a productive tension. When the verse lands, it lands because the actors sell it. When it does not, the film becomes a very expensive mood board.
The runtime is 120 minutes, and the middle sags. The ecstasy and restroom sequence is the film’s signature image, and it is also the moment the movie stops being an adaptation and becomes a Luhrmann film with Shakespeare attached. That is a real choice, made deliberately. It is not the same as a successful one.
The casting near-misses are more revealing than the final cast. Portman at 14 opposite DiCaprio at 21 would have changed what the film was about. Bale as Mercutio would have changed its register. The version that exists is the version where DiCaprio got his pick, and the film is better for Danes.
Where this sits against Cukor and Zeffirelli is straightforward. Those films trusted the play. This one trusts the director. That is a trade the film makes knowingly.
The score is 6 of 10.
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