Romeo and Juliet (1996)

Claire Danes can currently be seen in Season 8 of the very popular streaming series Homeland.

Zeffirelli’s 1968 film was not the only R&J that had an impact on a generation of teenagers who shared that time of life with the protagonists. Here is Lindsey Row-Heyveld, now assistant professor of English at Luther College in Iowa: “For people my age the Luhrman film was just a really powerful introduction to Shakespeare…they made these promotional and, I think, collectable postcards that came out in magazines like ‘Seventeen’ or “YM.’ I had this postcard that I had ripped out of Seventeen Magazine - it had a picture of Juliet on her balcony and underneath in script it said, ‘My only love sprung from my only hate’ - and I put it up in my locker.” Luhrman sets the movie in modern times at a southern American coastal city called Verona Beach. The conflict is between two crime families who battle over turf. One of the major updates is the substitution of a gun culture for swordplay (sidearms are shown to be branded as Sword products, so lines like “Put away your swords” could still be used). This gives a new and frightening dimension to the story. A pre-Titanic Leonardo DiCaprio essays Romeo to Claire Danes’ Juliet. Both leads, looking like very modern teens, were perfect for this adaption. Pete Postlethwaite is the perfect Friar Laurence, Juliet’s nurse scores again, this time in the person of Miriam Margolyes, and John Leguizamo brings some much needed menace to Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt. Leguizamo was the big surprise for me in this film and I have followed his career with interest ever since. Other notable performances are Paul Sorvino and the great Diane Venora as Juliet’s parents. This film startled and shook up some Shakespeare purists, but, for me, it is a real thriller and truly tragic (made even more so – and more cruel - by a slight tinkering with the final death scenes.)