Romeo + Juliet

The film was directed by Baz Luhrmann and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo and Claire Danes as Juliet. It modernizes the setting to a fictional contemporary city called Verona Beach while retaining Shakespeare's original dialogue.

Yes, Luhrmann's adaptation keeps the original Elizabethan English dialogue but places it within a hyper-stylized modern setting with guns, cars, and beachfront locations. This juxtaposition of classical language and contemporary visuals was a distinctive creative choice that divided critics and audiences.

Leonardo DiCaprio was around 21 and Claire Danes was approximately 16 or 17 during filming, making their ages reasonably close to the teenage characters as written in Shakespeare's play. The casting was significant in establishing both actors as major Hollywood stars heading into the late 1990s.

Notable previous adaptations include Franco Zeffirelli's acclaimed 1968 film starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, which was praised for its period authenticity and casting of age-appropriate actors. The play has been adapted numerous times for screen and stage, with Zeffirelli's version being the most frequently compared to Luhrmann's modernized take.