Romeo and Juliet Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Can you ever successfully modernize Shakespeare? I've been thinking back to all of the 're-imagined' Shakespeare films I have seen over the years, and as someone who has spent more time than she would have liked studying the Bard, I have to tell ya, most of them are pretty darn bad. I don't claim to be an expert, but for some reason watching Ethan Hawke deliver To Be or Not to Be in a Blockbuster really didn't add much to the experience. Well, that's what I thought anyway when I read the news over at Sci Fi Wire that Terrence Howard has announced the start date for his very own 'Modernized Macbeth' which will be replacing the misty moors of Scotland with the Caribbean sun.

For those of you who skipped high school English, Macbeth was the story of a Scottish warrior who is so affected by a 'witchy prophecy' that he is driven to usurp the Scottish throne through treachery and murder. It is by far one of Wilie's bloodiest plays, but there just must be something about it, because there have been Macbeth updates set in everything from rave culture to the fast food business.

So how to do you successfully transplant Shakespeare to modern day? Well, I happen to think that the films that work the best are the ones that are willing to throw the language right out the window -- sacrilege I know, but hear me out. I think for a lot of audiences the mismatch of modern settings with iambic pentameter just doesn't work as well as it should, and ends up distracting audiences from becoming truly involved in the story and instead spend their time trying to figure out what the hell people are saying. Granted there are some exceptions; Baz Luhrmann did a fair job with his Romeo and Juliet update (although he did a little trimming with the dialog), but I still think the best Shakespeare films are the ones who only look to the plays for inspiration, and not as the script.

So what do you think? Does modern-day Shakespeare ever work? Sound off on some your favorite Shakespeare adaptations below...

They may have been star-crossed lovers, and they might have tied the knot and spent a night together consummating their marriage (even if their warring families didn't know), but I don't think ol' Juliet had time to plop out Romeo's baby before dying. As we've all seen countless times: Romeo went off to banishment, Juliet faked her death, Romeo came back and assumed she was dead and killed himself, then she woke up and killed herself. There was no time for pregnancy and baby delivery.

Nevertheless, The Hollywood Reporter posts that Universal has grabbed the rights to a novel called Juliet, from Danish author Anne Fortier. To be published sometime next year, the novel "toggles from medieval Siena to the present day in a story about a woman who discovers she may be descended from the people who inspired one of the most popular and tragic love stories of all time."

Unless they're talking about ol' Shakespeare himself, this is just not possible. Unless ... did both the Capulets and Montagues have new babies that fell in love in the very same way -- and survived? I imagine that the catch-word "inspired" will allow them to twist the Romeo and Juliet story a bit. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I am intrigued.

First Hamlet 2, now a descendant of Romeo and Juliet. What's next? A horror movie called Titus Andronicus 2: Lucius Goes Mad?

No, this won't be a healthy serving of star-crossed love between a US soldier and an Iraqi girl. Instead we're jumping back in time just a little bit. Variety reports that an upcoming European and Iraqi co-production based on Shakespeare's famous romance, called The Flowers of Kirkuk. Iranian-born filmmaker Fabrizia Falzetti is helming the feature, with Hafsia Hersi attached to star.

The backdrop is not pretty -- the romance will take place during Saddam Hussein's ethnic cleansing in Kurdistan. Kirkuk was one of the cities that Saddam used chemical weapons against in the early '80s, and the romance will be between "a young woman from Baghdad and a Kurdish doctor who is trying to save the victims of Saddam's attacks." That's just a little more than warring families.

This film isn't just a political piece in plot -- Variety says that the project is being co-produced by Hero Talabani, wife of Iraqi president Jala Talabani. Right now, they're looking for extras by airing ads on Talabani's satellite channel, and hopefully we will hear more soon, especially once they find a Romeo.

Remember when 3D was considered tacky? It doesn't seem so long ago that I would mention old, wacky 3D films in conversation and get strange looks from people. "Why would you want to wear those annoying glasses?" It seemed like a quickly-faded fad, but not anymore. It looks like 3D is here to stay, and it isn't just influencing North American film. Variety reports that after the current rise in popularity of animated features, Central Partnership, an independent Russian production company, is getting into the game with a pricey stake in an upcoming 3D cartoon based on William Shakespeare's ultra-classic romance, Romeo and Juliet.

Peregrine is the working title for the film, which focuses on Mitya, a peregrine falcon who is adopted at birth by a family of pigeons. I imagine Mitya will fall for another bird species and thus tap into all that Romeo and Juliet goodness with warring families and ruffled feathers -- the film is set to include Moscow pigeons, sparrows, and falcons. Konstantin Khabensky, who will soon appear in the Angelina Jolie film Wanted as The Exterminator, will voice Mitya, while Renata Litvinova (The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 3: From Sark to the Finish) will voice a pigeon named Galya. The film is set to fly into theaters later this year or early 2009.

The lengths at which people stretch the words of Shakespeare never cease to amaze me. Unlike other icons of literature, The Bard's writing has become a poo-poo platter starting point for creativity. I've seen it all – from Taming of the Shrew set in the Wild West to Macbeth at a fast food stand. Some of them have worked, and others have not. Beyond all of these, the Montague and Capulets seem to be everyone's favourite Shakespeare team. But lately, the famous warring households are being stretched to new levels.

Adaptation the first: Last year, Martha Fischer reported that things weren't over for Gnomeo and Juliet, an animated adaptation dealing with garden gnomes. There doesn't seem to be much news on the project, but it seems it still has two lead voices, Kate Winslet as Juliet, and prolific voice actor Greg Ellis.

Adaptation the second: Romeo and Juliet in werewolf love. Last year we shared that Agnes Bruckner and Olivier Martinez had joined Blood and Chocolate, a werewolf love story. Now, according to JoBlo and Fangoria, this story is a re-jig of the star-crossed lovers, although in this case, they're moon-crossed. Juliet, aka Vivian, is part of a long line of werewolves, and she inconveniently falls for a human. It's not enough to be a part of competing families. These days, you can't both be human. Fangoria is hosting some images from the film, which is looking a little cheesy with its glowing beasts.

So, we've got werewolves and garden gnomes now acting out Shakespeare's famous characters. What would he say if he were here today?