Shakespeare was an adept self-promoter, so I think he’d be tickled by – and appreciative of – Luhrmann’s nods to his other works, all cast in the light of modern consumerism. Luhrmann brings this world to life in absurdly customized automobiles, flamboyant clothing, bacchanalian mansion parties, and omnipresent commercialization. And, both set their story in a world of wealth and privilege, a world in which image is everything. Shakespeare and Luhrmann both give us a sizzlingly cool Mercutio and icily smoldering Tybalt, a matched pair who, while they live, inevitably steal the show.

Shakespeare’s noble Prince is entirely unable to force a peace upon the warring clans Luhrmann gives us a frustrated police captain, a senior civil servant, trying – and not unexpectedly failing – to do the same. Fittingly, Sword, Longsword, and Dagger are brand names of arms makers. The Capulets and Montagues are engaged in a senseless but ancient turf war Luhrmann gives it to us with sleek skyscrapers, grim news headlines, and explosive street riots. In that, I think Luhrmann and Whedon and their ilk are very much heirs to William Shakespeare’s legacy of creating entertainment for the masses, probably more so than those directors painstakingly recreating Elizabethan-styled staging and delivery.įurthermore, I think most of what some may perceive as Luhrmann’s liberties are in fact true to Shakespeare’s original intent. Like Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing (2012), it takes the original play’s plot bones and verbal muscle, and gives it a fresh new skin, more appealing – and familiar – to modern movie audiences.

Baz Luhrmann delivers a visually stunning Romeo + Juliet for the 1990sīaz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) is one of my favorite film adaptations.

Romeo and juliet screenplay