French postcard by Sonis, no. C. 731. Photo: 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. French film affiche with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996). Caption: Hope despair tragedy love. The world's greatest love story.
Vintage postcard, no. 012. Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996). Caption: Romeo.
Vintage postcard. Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996).
Vintage promotion card. Photo: 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996).
They immediately fall in love
Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996) is set in Los Angeles, in the fictional Verona Beach. Two great families, the Montagues, and the Capulets, are warring mafia empires with legitimate business fronts.
The young men of the two feuding Montague and Capulet families get into fights at every opportunity, although the heads of the families urge moderation. After a petrol station goes up in flames during a shootout, the police give the families the ultimate warning to keep the peace from now on.
Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio), son of the Montague family, initially attends a costume party at the Capulet house without being recognised and meets the Capulet's daughter Juliet (Claire Danes). They immediately fall in love, although they don't even know each other's names at first. After talking to each other during a secret dip in the pool, they decide to get married the next day, settling the long dispute between the two families.
They find support from Juliet's nurse (Miriam Margolyes) and Father Laurence (Pete Postlethwaite), who marries them. Shortly afterwards, Romeo's friend Mercutio (Harold Perrineau) is killed by Juliet's cousin Tybalt (John Leguizamo) in a quarrel. Romeo, who initially tried to de-escalate the situation, is furious. He pursues Tybalt and shoots him. He then seeks help from Father Laurence, who advises him to spend the night with Juliet, flee to Mantua in the early morning, and stay there until he receives news.
Juliet's parents, who still know nothing about Romeo, have now arranged their daughter's wedding to the heartthrob Count Paris (Paul Rudd). When she resists, she is accused of ingratitude. Desperate, she also seeks advice from Father Laurence and receives a drug from him that will put her into a 24-hour death-like sleep to escape a forced marriage to Count Paris. Father Laurence immediately sends Romeo an express letter to Mantua to inform him of this plan. However, the letter cannot be delivered after two attempts.
Vintage postcard by Promode, no. PR 090. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996).
Vintage postcard. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Jamie Kennedy, Zak Orth, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dash Mihok, and Harold Perrineau in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996). Caption: Montague. Quarrel I Will Back Thee.
Vintage postcard by Promode, no. PR 094. Photo: 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996).
Vintage postcard by Promode, no. PR 094. Photo: 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996). Caption: My only love sprung from my only hate.
Australian postcard by Avant Card, 1996, no. 1205. Photo: 20th Century Fox Film Corporation.Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996). Caption: The greatest love story the world has ever known.
Firearms called Dagger, Sword, or Rapier
Romeo + Juliet is the second film in Baz Luhrmann's Red Curtain trilogy. The other two are Strictly Ballroom (1992) and Moulin Rouge! (2001). The film was an international co-production involving principals from the United States, Mexico, Australia, and Canada.
Kate Winslet auditioned for the role of Juliet. A year later, she appeared alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic (James Cameron, 1997). Natalie Portman, then 14, had been cast as Juliet but, during rehearsals, it was thought that she looked too young for the part, and the footage looked as though DiCaprio (21) was "molesting" her. After Sarah Michelle Gellar turned down the role due to scheduling conflicts, DiCaprio proclaimed that Claire Danes should be cast, as he felt she was genuine in her line delivery and did not try to impress him by acting flirtatious.
Both Christian Bale and Ewan McGregor auditioned for the role of Mercutio, which eventually went to African-American actor Harold Perrineau. Romeo + Juliet was filmed in Mexico from January to April 1996. Mercutio's murder was filmed during a hurricane. The element of water has a special significance in this film. It symbolizes the purity of love between Romeo and Juliet. Both are seen underwater in various scenes, they see each other for the first time through an aquarium and kiss in the pool. The purity of this love is destroyed by Tybalt's death in a fountain.
One of the reasons the film has become famous is because of the specially modified vehicles and weapons. The modified automatic pistols are based on the Beretta 92FS model and its licensed version Taurus PT92 or PT96 and the Colt Combat Commander, a variant of the Colt 1911. The engraved names were then adapted to the original of William Shakespeare's version. Thus, the firearms are called Dagger, Sword, or Rapier, each with the corresponding calibre information.
Romeo + Juliet is the third major film version of the play, following adaptations by George Cukor in 1936 and Franco Zeffirelli in 1968. The film, produced by 20th Century Fox, was met with generally positive reviews from critics. However, Roger Ebert gave the film a mixed review of only two stars out of four, saying, "I've seen King Lear as a samurai drama and Macbeth as a Mafia story, and two different Romeo and Juliets about ethnic difficulties in Manhattan (West Side Story and China Girl), but I have never seen anything remotely approaching the mess that the new punk version of Romeo & Juliet makes of Shakespeare's tragedy.". The film grossed over $147 million against its $14.5 million budget.
Vintage postcard. Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996).
Spanish postcard by Memory Card, no. 434. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996).
Spanish postcard by Editions Mercuri, no. 399. Jamie Kennedy, Zak Orth, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dash Minok and Harold Perrineau in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996).
Spanish postcard by Memory Card, no. 406. Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996).
Vintage postcard in the Cinemascope Collection, no. 24. Poster by: 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996). Caption: My only love sprung from my only hate.
Sources: Roger Ebert (RogerEbert.com), Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.
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