A Comparison of Two Movies about William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet
A COMPARISON OF TWO MOVIES
ABOUT WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S
TIMELESS, CLASSIC PLAY
WRITTEN IN 1597

Romeo and Juliet
• Filmed and released in 1968.
• Directed and Screenplay by Franco Zeffirelli.
• Produced by John Brabourne and Anthony Havelock-Allan.
• Filmed in Italy and takes place in Verona, Italy in
Elizabethan era.
• Stars Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey.
• Won an Oscar at the 41st Academy Awards for Best
Cinematography and Best Costume Design; also nominated
for Best Director and Best Picture.

William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet
• Filmed and released in 1996.
• Produced, Directed, and Screenplay by Baz Luhrman.
• Easy to do all three jobs when you have a vision for the outcome.
• Filmed in Miami, Mexico City and Veracruz, Mexico.
• Takes place in present day in Verona Beach, California.
• Stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.
• Catherine Martin and Brigitte Broch were nominated for Best
Art Direction/Set Decoration at the 69th Academy Awards.
• Claire Danes won Best Actress at 1997 MTV Movie Awards.

Directorial comparison
Zeffirelli
• Purposely cast actors that were real
close to the age they were portraying.
• Filmed in Italy where the original play
was set.
• Costumes were extremely accurate.
• Stayed loyal to the original as
possible.
• Changed the dialogue only for the
present day audience to understand it
fully.
• Off screen space was very imaginable.
Luhrman
• Cast was aimed at entirely new and
different audience.
• Set in present day to make film more
modern. Used Verona Beach instead of
Verona, Italy. Filmed in Mexico City mostly.
Very believable use of cinematic space.
• Costumes were more modern and symbolic
to differentiate between families but to
seem modern.
• Characters speak American English but use
the dialogue close to the original film.
• The”+” used in the title is a reference to
the crosses seen throughout the movie as
Catholic Imagery