"Romeo & Juliet" Starring Hailee Steinfeld

[WyldeMan45]

I figured they would cast someone closer to Hailee's age for Romeo since there is kind of a big gap between 14 and 19, but he's their choice. I'll see it just for the fact Hailee's work in True Grit blew me away. I do like that they are keeping the cast younger for the most part to keep it true to the original story.

British thesp Douglas Booth has been cast as Romeo opposite Hailee Steinfeld in Carlo Carlei's "Romeo and Juliet."

19-year-old Booth beat out more than 300 other young thesps for the coveted role of Romeo, an accomplished swordsman and adept lover who falls for Juliet despite the bitter rivalry between their families.

Holly Hunter co-stars as Juliet's Nurse, while Ed Westwick and Kodi Smit-McPhee are set to play the two lovers' cousins, Tybalt and Benvolio, respectively.

Julian Fellowes ("Gosford Park") penned the script and will produce the Shakespeare adaptation with Ileen Maisel and Lawrence Elman of Amber Entertainment.

Booth previously appeared in the Starz miniseries "Pillars of the Earth" and will soon be seen as Miley Cyrus' love interest in "LOL." Thesp clearly has a taste for the classics, as he's also set to star alongside Ray Winstone in the BBC's upcoming adaptation of "Great Expectations."

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by WyldeMan45

I figured they would cast someone closer to Hailee's age for Romeo since there is kind of a big gap between 14 and 19, but he's their choice. I'll see it just for the fact Hailee's work in True Grit blew me away. I do like that they are keeping the cast younger for the most part to keep it true to the original story.

If you knew Shakespeare history, you'd know that keeping the cast younger is actually going AGAINST the original scripted version of the story. Romeo was in his mid-twenties (23-25... some even theorize that he was 27) and Juliet was in her mid-teens (13-16). Back in those days, it was common for girls to be married by the age of 15 because of life expectancies. Many young girls were mothers by the age of 16.

As for this production? I've seen enough of Romeo & Juliet. They need to get to some of Shakespeare's better works. Macbeth and The Tempest need to be addressed properly for a modern audience.

[WyldeMan45]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

If you knew Shakespeare history, you'd know that keeping the cast younger is actually going AGAINST the original scripted version of the story. Romeo was in his mid-twenties (23-25... some even theorize that he was 27) and Juliet was in her mid-teens (13-16). Back in those days, it was common for girls to be married by the age of 15 because of life expectancies. Many young girls were mothers by the age of 16.

As for this production? I've seen enough of Romeo & Juliet. They need to get to some of Shakespeare's better works. Macbeth and The Tempest need to be addressed properly for a modern audience.

I haven't read the book since freshman year in high school but I thought both were around 13. Alright then I guess this makes more sense. Outside of the original movie I haven't seen Romeo and Juliet, so it's not something I'm tired of. Thanks to MTV reality shows aren't most young girls mothers by 16 now anyways?

I thought they just made The Temptest with Helen Mirren and Dijimon Hounsou?

[EricJ]

And hopefully this will be the heterosexual version--
So that high-school kids with bad memories don't have to keep watching the Baz Luhrmann/Leo diCaprio because they don't know of any other version...

And Tempest got...about as good as it could be with Julie Taymor (hey, if she could fix "Titus"), but the Scottish Play still seems to be as much of a jinx on film as on stage.

[Idioteque...]

This is so going to suck and seriously I really feel like the relationship between a 19 year old and 14 year old is just plain out gross.