Romeo and Juliet

In Verona a feud between two families ends with two teenagers falling in love in one night and dying within days. Shakespeare's text is largely kept intact; what changed is the age of the actors. Franco Zeffirelli directed. He ran a worldwide search and found two unknowns: Leonard Whiting was sixteen as Romeo and Olivia Hussey fifteen as Juliet, at a time when the parts were usually played by actors in their thirties. Paul McCartney was among those considered for Romeo, with Phil Collins and Anjelica Huston also in the running. Laurence Olivier reads the prologue and epilogue and dubs the voice of Lord Montague. Shooting began in June 1967 in Tuscania, Pienza, Gubbio and Artena and finished at Cinecitta in Rome. The budget was 850,000 dollars and the film took 38.9 million worldwide. It won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design and was nominated for Best Director and Best Picture, still the last Shakespeare adaptation nominated in that category. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 95 percent. Roger Ebert called it the most exciting film of Shakespeare ever made. In January 2023 Hussey and Whiting sued Paramount for 500 million dollars over having been filmed nude. The suits were dismissed in 2023 and 2024. Who it is for: anyone who wants Shakespeare played by actors the age of the characters. Who it is not for: viewers expecting a modernised version. The film is faithful to the period and the text, and its pace is slow by current standards.