...it was just about perfect in every way, and brilliant. I am, however, curious and anticipating how they will do with this one.
I'll second you there! Nothing beats the Zefferelli versin, however I am curious about this version too, especially since the girl cast as Juliet was already an Oscar nominee.
shareI never thought the Zeffirelli was very good. But even if it had been, there is always a need for new versions of any of Shakespeare's plays,
shareLOL! Well...imo I was comparing the Zeferelli version to the 1990s Baz Luhrman version, which I prefer the Zef version better...lol...but obviously this new version could beat them all.
shareI agree with you wholeheartedly, but I think this version will match the Zeffirelli's. I think Hailee Steinfeld will be a perfect Juliet and I trust Julian Fellowes implicitly as he's an excellent screenwriter. I don't know enough about the director to judge, but his casting so far has been really good.
"He who saves one man saves the world entire."~ The Talmud
FZ's version was truly sublime - a masterpiece and a breakthrough in casting age-appropriate actors. Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting were perfect as Juliet and Romeo. Their youthful, lustful passion was positively giddy and completely believeable. No two actors before or after brought Shakeseare's words and R&J to life the way these two actors did. It was as if they played it (and FZ directed it) the way it was written, with passion, humor, and abandonment of inhibition. All of the actors from the Prince to the Nurse were spot on perfect! I fell in love with R&J and Shakespeare as a freshman in highschool seeing this version, and thought it superior to the good, but weaker BL's version, mainly because of the poor casting of Claire D. Leo D is a fine actor and equally charasmatic and handsome. He was an excellent Romeo, as was LW. But, both principals, Juliet, in particular, must be breathtakingly beautiful for us to believe the intensity of the couple's love-at-first-sight. Claire is overrated, imo, and simply attractive, not luminous or stunning - not like Olivia Hussey, who is so captivating, one can believe that Romeo would die for her (and the same must be true for Romeo). He must be soulfully gorgeous. Hailey is an excellent actress, but she does not have that luminous, get-lost- in-her-eyes quality, and captivating beauty that is required to embody Juliet.
For this tale to work, the casting must be perfect. I'd like to see a much younger Lady Capulet paired with an old Lord Capulet. Lady Capulet is only 26-28 years old. The text states that she was Juliet's age (not yet 14/nearly 14)when she became a mother, so her age when she gave birth (between 13 and 14) plus Juliet's age now (between 13 and 14) makes Lady C between 26 and 28. I'd like to see a beautiful, young Lady Capulet who resembles Juliet. We can assume that her marriage to Lord C was arranged (forced) when she was between 12 and 13, and that he is much older. We know that he is a bit of a jerk, and from comments made by Lord C to Paris and from comments exchanged between Lord and Lady C, that they are not exactly a happy couple. So, perhaps we can also assume that the underlying tension between herself and Juliet is that Lady C may resent her daughter's resistence to marrying Paris. He's at least handsome, seems nice enough, and still youngish - not the old brutish jerk Lady C had to marry when she was younger than Juliet! No wonder she believes that Juliet should be grateful - not acting like a spoiled brat! We can maybe understand Lady C's unhelpful approach when Juliet asks her mother to delay the marriage to Paris. The casting choice of Lady C is important, and can perhaps the actor can play some notes that were missed in earlier versions.
And will the new version address scene's FZ skipped, such as Romeo's killing Paris, or Juliet's paranoia before taking the potion? It might be interesting to see these scenes filmed.
As much as I adore FZ's version, and will probably never love another version as much, I look forward to new adaptations of Shakespeare - on stage and film. It helps introduce new generations to the Bard, and that has to be a good thing.
I disagree with you about Lady Capulet's age. If you remember when Paris was speaking with Lord Capulet about marrying Juliet, when Lord Capulet was thinking about putting it off a couple of more years ("Let two more summers wither in their pride/Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride") and Paris argues that, "Younger than she are happy mothers made," Lord Capulet replies, "And too soon marred are those so early made./The earth hath all my hopes but she." At the time the play was set, there was a VERY high mortality rate for both mother anbd child at childbirth. This led me to believe that Juliet had sisters before her, since Juliet is their only living daughter. Note you/she said "a mother," not "HER mother." I am thinking that Lady Capulet was around 25 when she gave birth to Juliet. So she would have to be around 39 or 40 when Juliet was 14. I always thought that Lord and Lady Capulet were in the same age bracket when they married.
And while I though that Zefferini's version was legitimate, and Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey were perfect for their roles, I am hesitant to give this version another full watch because of that infamous nude scene on the night after their wedding. I thought it was completely unnecessary, especially being exposed to that quick flash of Juliet's breasts. I'm no prude, but when I watched this as part of English class, I thought that was completely nasty and inappropriate. Also, when Romeo gave his tragic speech over Juliet's burial spot, I thought that LW overdramatized it. It's one thing to cry softly, even moderately, when in mourning, but show me a widower who has cried as loudly as Romeo did over Juliet at HIS wife's funeral. It was over the top, at best. I hope I do not see either of those in this version.
All that said, I do look forward to watching old Hailee work her magic as Juliet in this version. She hit it out of the park as Mattie Ross in "True Grit," and I expect her performance as Juliet Capulet to be no different.
amen!
but I'm curious to see how this version will be played out.
Proud Militant,Delusional H/Hr Shipper!
<3
I agree, but mainly because of the music. Hauntingly beautiful.
http://globalisk.com/cascadingslides
They cut out all of the soliloquies. Some of the most important lines are found there such as Friar Laurence's "medicine hath residence and poison power".
The DiCaprio version included in the soliloquies in a clever way but butchered a lot of the meaning behind some of the lines.
I'm eagerly waiting a version that will include the soliloquies and be true to Shakespeare's words.
I always thought Zeffirelli's version was overrated. A good movie, I much enjoyed it, but I never found it to be the classic it was made out to be to me before I saw it.
Brude
http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/gallery/?video=16074