Romeo+Juliet celebrates 25 years of being a memorable tale of love, drugs, and gun violence

In the 90’s beach city of Verona, Baz Luhrmann created the mafia-riddled society for his star-studded cast to bring their versions of Shakespeare’s characters to life. Before Leonardo DiCaprio became known as Jack Dawson from Titanic, before Claire Danes became known as Homeland’s Carrie Mathison, they were Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet.

With endless remakes of the bard’s arguably most memorable romance, Luhrmann’s take still stands out. Converting the Elizabethan play into a modern movie was seamlessly achieved by the director and the cast. Even with 25 years having elapsed since its theatrical release, the blending of the old and modern makes the movie a timeless watch.

Young DiCaprio had just begun his transition from television to the big screen when he donned Romeo’s avatar. He had already been appreciated for his acting in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). His role as an intellectually disabled teenager had earned the budding actor several accolades and awards. In fact, this film spearheaded 19-year-old DiCaprio’s highly-memed Academy Award nomination journey.

After his role as Arnie Grape, DiCaprio starred in interesting movies which did not particularly do well at the box office. However, DiCaprio went above and beyond in order to transform from Arnie to Romeo. He flew to Australia, where Luhrmann lived, to give his audition. With the help of a few of his actor friends, DiCaprio enacted a highly abridged version of the play for the director. Already impressed with the young actor’s looks, Luhrmann noticed DiCaprio’s drive and talent.

Once cast as Romeo, DiCaprio played a major role in the casting of the actress destined to be Juliet. 14-year-old Natalie Portman was one of the tentative choices. However, with the age difference between DiCaprio (who was 21 at the time) and Portman, the actress did not make the cut. Due to scheduling conflicts, Sarah Michelle Gellar was not able to take on the role either.

Luhrmann cast Danes for the role of Juliet mostly on DiCaprio’s insistence. During her audition, DiCaprio felt Danes was not particularly trying to be flirtatious and that they shared natural chemistry.

DiCaprio and Danes were cast to be immortalised as Romeo and Juliet. Their effortless chemistry might have been enhanced by Danes’ infatuation with her Romeo. Miriam Margolyes, who was Juliet’s Nurse in the movie, recalled that the young actress was enamoured by DiCaprio during filming.

The beautiful rapport between the two young actors was not the only thing that made Romeo+Juliet a seminal film. Keeping most of the romantic drama intact, Luhrmann made some interesting changes.

With the concepts of nobility becoming redundant, the aristocratic families of the Capulets and Montagues were promptly replaced by mafia families. Omitting some characters, others were changed to fit into the then-modern world of the 90s.

Lord and Lady Capulet and Montague were granted first names, which Shakespeare had never mentioned; Prince Escalus, the Prince of Verona, was turned into Captain Prince, the police chief of the beach city; Juliet’s suitor and Prince Escalus’ kin, Count Paris, became Dave Paris, the Governor’s son.

New-age characters aside, the entire movie is based in the fictitious city of Verona Beach instead of the Italian city of Verona. The slightly Latino-inspired destination was strewn with modern-day visuals of women in bikinis and police helicopters constantly patrolling the skies. Swords replaced guns, stage exits replaced car rides, a grove of sycamore trees was replaced with a run-down theatre named Sycamore Grove, and drugs!

Shakespeare’s impassioned-yet-playful Romeo did not need drugs to bolster his love for Juliet. Luhrmann, however, turns Romeo into a drug-addled party crasher who possibly mistakes Juliet for a mermaid.

Des’ree singing ‘Kissing You’ in the background, the scene where Romeo meets Juliet at the Capulet party, remains fresh in every 90’s teen’s mind. With Dory and her other neon fish friends swimming around in the gigantic aquarium, audiences are introduced to the wide-eyed Juliet. That particular scene along with one where the star-crossed couple shares their first kiss, are arguably the most memorable moments from the film. Danes dressed like an angel; DiCaprio playing her knight in shining armour; Paul Rudd looking ageless as ever, and Harold Perrineau’s Mercutio in drag, got viewers hooked to the first half of the movie.

25 years later, the scene remains nostalgic but not as romantic as most remember it to be. Sheltered Juliet falls in love with a high-on-ecstasy Romeo, who in turn uses Rosaline’s cousin as a ‘rebound’ after getting rejected. In the middle of it all, Paris, who appears to be a fun and non-problematic suitor, dodges a literal bullet (he survives his infamous death, as penned by the bard in the original text).

Luhrmann, through the entire film, continues to develop epic cinematic tableaus that become hard to forget.

Violence forms an integral part of Luhrmann’s tragic tale, a fact bolstered by the rampant use of guns. The Capulet and Montague boys openly tote their weapons without fear of repercussions. Juliet pulls a gun on Peter Postlethwaite’s Father Lawrence when she is being forced to marry Paris. The possession and use of guns in Verona Beach were problematic enough for every establishment and party to have a gun deposit system in place. Whether intentional or unintentional, the movie underscores the insidious nature of American gun culture.

Underaged, drug-induced infatuation coupled with gun-toting mafia families created this notable adaptation. DiCaprio and Danes’ earnesty in portraying this epic romantic saga, makes the movie a must-watch, if not a must-re-watch.