William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Director:	Baz Luhrmann
Writers:	Craig Pearce and Baz Luhrmann
Editor:	Jill Bilcock
Music:	Nellee Hooper
Production Designer:	Catherine Martin
Producers:	Gabriella Martinelli and Baz Luhrmann
	Twentieth Century Fox; PG-13; 113 minutes
Release:	11/96
Cast:	Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, Harold Perrineau, Paul Sorvino, Pete Postlethwaite and Miriam Margolyes
	Based on the play by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Archive Photos

Who would've thought it possible to create a hyperkinetic updating of the Bard's most romantic tale with an MTV audience in mind and preserve Shakespeare's language? Filmmaker Luhrmann has managed both, with the help of convincingly passionate performances from DiCaprio and Danes. The rival families, the Capulets and Montagues, are transplanted to Florida's Verona Beach, where the families run businesses from dueling skyscrapers and gang members shoot at each other from the ground and the air. The heir (DiCaprio) and heiress (Danes) fall in love at a costume ball and all hell breaks loose. It's a frenzied rock video with a tender side, too.