Romeo and Juliet The Movie essays

Romeo and Juliet The Movie essays When I first saw Romeo and Juliet I was amazed by the effects and the story surrounding it. This version of Romeo and Juliet is a wildly passionate love story that captures the brightly burning emotions of youth. Baz Luhrmann the director of Romeo and Juliet takes Shakespeares famous play and updates it to the hip modern suburb of Verona but still retaining its original dialogue. The gun toting members of the families wage a vicious war on the streets as the star-crossed lovers, their tragic destiny. It is a rivalry between the Hispanic Montagues and the punk Capulets. Luhrmann wanted a realistic updating of the famous Shakespeare story so he decided to present the Montague and the Capulet family as rich people in a modern world. In the original Shakespeare play the families were wealthy so Luhrmann is trying to stick to the story as much as possible in this tale. When Baz Luhrmann chose Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as Romeo and Juliet because he was hoping to make a Romeo and Juliet that was accessible to young audiences. He wanted the perfect couple, good looking and youthful so his choice of main actors is therefore... one word love. Harold Perrineau (Mercutio) and John Leguizamo (Tybalt) were chosen because they are the typical type to play that character. John was able to give this bad boy image for Tybalt while Harold was able to make Mercutio funny and charming yet a perfect fighter when need be. These were the perfect characters to watch over Romeo and Juliet. Miriam Margolyes tends toward caricature as a Hispanic Nurse, but is always understandable and occasionally funny, while Peter Postlethwaite turns in the films strongest performance as the morally ambiguous Father Laurence For the play Luhrmann gives each actor a different type of style of clothing to suit his or her characters though he makes sure its very modern. He gives Tybalt a gothic bad...