shakespeare's romeo and juliet leonardo dicaprio

We’re not looking at traditional Elizabethan Shakespeare, kids. There’s going to be a lot of bright colors, a decent amount of violence, and an absolutely killer soundtrack. The ensuing conflict, taken straight from Shakespeare’s original text, sets the tone for the rest of the movie and lets us know that the star-crossed lovers are about to get the Hollywood blockbuster treatment. The Montague boys, decked out in Hawaiian shirts and dyed hair (bubblegum pink for Jamie Kennedy’s character, a great look), talk shit about a group of leather-clad, cigarette-smoking Capulets. Opening with a newscaster reading the prologue as if it’s the evening news, the first scene of the play shows us exactly what we’re about to experience.

Here are the five best scenes that illustrate just that. The genius of this adaptation lies in these creative choices–mixing a flashy aesthetic with Shakespeare’s original language creates a culture clash that works in unexpected ways. The Montagues and Capulets became warring mafia families in fair Verona Beach, wielding guns named after different types of swords as Police Chief Prince tries to wrangle them.

Starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio just moments before his role in Titanic and Claire Danes fresh from her time as Angela Chase on the cult hit My So-Called Life as the titular characters, Romeo + Juliet applied a modern lens to the classic play about the star-crossed lovers. Let’s be real: Baz Luhrmann is one of the best things to happen Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy Romeo and Juliet.

Shakespeare's romeo and juliet leonardo dicaprio