Baz Luhrmann’s dazzling, high-fashion re-imagining of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet turns 30 this year. Starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, Romeo + Juliet uses the Bard’s words but places the action in sunny “Verona Beach”, inspired by California’s Venice Beach.
It has become a modern classic and we’ve dug up some fascinating behind-the-scenes facts – including that it was shot almost entirely in Mexico!
The hurricane
Mercutio’s famous line, “A plague on both your houses!” got extra heft thanks to nature. The thundering skies in this scene were due to a real hurricane that arrived just as the cameras were rolling. The crew had time to film two shots before things got wild.
“All the crew had goggles on and the guys had stinging sand in their eyes,” recalls director Baz, 63.
“After those two shots, the sets were completely blown away.”
They shut up shop and returned four days later to finish filming – this time using fans to recreate the windy effect.
The kidnapping
The film’s key hairstylist, Aldo Signoretti, had a hair-raising experience all his own during the shoot in Mexico City – he was kidnapped and held for ransom!
“The bandidos rang up and said, ‘For $300, you can have him back,’” Baz explained later.
“So Maurizio [Silvi, the makeup artist] goes down clutching the money outside the hotel, holds it up, chucks them the bag, and they threw Aldo out of the car and broke his leg.”
Despite his injuries, Aldo returned to work soon after.
The rock star
When Baz was wondering who to cast as Romeo, he had no idea who Leonardo DiCaprio was. He had, however, seen photos of him and assumed he was a rock star. “I went, ‘Now that’s what Romeo should look like… If only he could act!’” When he discovered Leo was an actor, he flew him to Australia for a meeting. Baz has since said he could never have made the movie without Leo.
The big break
Natalie Portman was originally cast as Juliet, but was dropped after studio bosses felt the age gap between her and Leo was too great (she was 14 and he was 21). Baz was struggling to find a replacement when Kiwi director Dame Jane Campion asked if he’d seen the teen drama My So-Called Life because its young star, Claire Danes, was very mature. Soon after, 17-year-old Claire auditioned, and Leo was impressed that she didn’t play Juliet like a shrinking violet.
“Claire was just so in the moment,” he says.
“She came right up to me, looked me right in the eye and started doing her lines.”
The spark
Despite their mutual respect, Leo and Claire didn’t become pals on set. Some crew members dished that Claire thought Leo was immature and that Leo found Claire uptight. But Claire later said it was more complicated than that.
“There was definitely a spark, but I don’t think either of us knew how to handle it. So we sometimes sort of ignored each other. It was too big for us to really accept.”
The billboards
Every billboard, every sign and even every scrap of paper seen on screen in the movie contains a secret Shakespeare reference. In the opening petrol station scene alone, there’s a sign for Montague Construction and the slogan for the gas station is “add more fuel to your fire”, which is a line from another of the Bard’s works. Next to the petrol station is Shylock Bank, named after a character in The Merchant of Venice, and even a newspaper headline reads, “A rash fierce blaze of riot”, which comes from Richard II.
The other death
Marlon Brando was all teed up to play Father Laurence, who married Romeo and Juliet in secret, and masterminded the sleeping potion plan that led to the pair’s tragic deaths. Before filming started, however, Marlon’s son Christian shot his sister’s boyfriend in the head in a fit of rage, believing the boyfriend had been physically abusing his sister. Marlon, who was fast asleep before the shot rang out, ran downstairs and tried in vain to save the man’s life, but he had died instantly. Christian was charged with first-degree murder and Marlon pulled out of Romeo + Juliet, sending Baz a letter.
He recalls, “It said, ‘Dear Baz, I can no longer consider playing the role of Father Laurence. I’ve got personal family problems,’ which was an understatement.”
Christian ended up serving five years in prison for manslaughter.
