Trivia for
Romeo + Juliet (1996) More at IMDbPro »

• The pool hall that Romeo and Benvolio enter is in a building called "Globe." The Globe Theatre in England was the site of William Shakespeare's original productions in Elizabethan times.
  
  
• There are various bill boards throughout the movie that contain quotes from other Shakespeare plays: - 'Shoot forth thunder' (the gun advert) is from 'The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth', Act IV, Scene I, Line 109. - 'Experience is by industry achiev'd' (in the Capulet lift) is from 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona', Act I, Scene III, Line 25. - 'Such stuff as dreams are made on' (another advert) is from 'The Tempest', Act IV, Scene I, Lines 168-169. Prospero (the name of the drink in the advert) is the player who says these lines.
  
  
• Ewan McGregor auditioned for the part of Mercutio. Director Baz Luhrmann later worked with Ewan in the film Moulin Rouge! (2001).
  
  
• Second part of Baz Luhrmann's Red Curtain-trilogy. The other two parts are Strictly Ballroom (1992) and Moulin Rouge! (2001).
  
  
• Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jennifer Love Hewitt were considered for the part of Juliet, but both were turned down. Sarah Michelle Gellar was committed to "All My Children" (1970), and Jennifer Love Hewitt was rejected because she was not 'old enough' for the role. Both of them would later star alongside each other in I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997).
  
  
• Reese Witherspoon was considered for the role of Juliet.
  
  
• Kate Winslet auditioned for the role of Juliet and was seriously considered but ultimately passed over. A year later, she and Leonardo DiCaprio were both cast in Titanic (1997).
  
  
• Christina Ricci auditioned for the role of Juliet.
  
  
• A billboard at Verona Beach bears the sign "L'amour" (it's in red and white, and looks a bit like the Coca Cola logo). The same sign can be seen outside Christian's window in Moulin Rouge! (2001), another Baz Luhrmann film. The sign had also appeared (this time in the form of a Coca Cola logo) in Luhrmann's film Strictly Ballroom (1992), and in his stage production of "La Boheme".
  
  
• A number of important moments (and a lot of trivial ones) involve water. When we first see Juliet, she is holding her head under water; when Romeo and Juliet first see each other, it's through a fish tank; the balcony scene is moved from a balcony to a swimming pool; Mercutio is killed at the beach; when Tybalt is shot, he falls into a pond; when the banished Romeo comes to Juliet's room he is drenched from the pouring rain, and when he leaves the next morning he falls into the pool again
  
  
• The majority of sets were built from scratch in order to achieve the film's unique look. The Sycamore Grove theatre and huts on Verona Beach were actually destroyed by a hurricane during filming. The beginning of the hurricane is evident during Mercutio's death scene, and many pick up shots had to be filmed elsewhere.
  
  
• Cameo: [Catherine Martin, Kym Barrett] The production designer and the costume designer make cameo appearances as Gloria Capulet's maids. They are seen in the film dressing Juliet's mother in her Cleopatra costume before the ball.
  
  
• Claire Danes wears a wig throughout the movie and also had a special aquatic wig for her underwater scenes.
  
  
• The film runs for exactly two hours, in line with the prologue which states: "Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage".
  
  
• Natalie Portman was considered for the role of Juliet and got as far as flying to director Baz Luhrmann's hometown, Sydney, to film scenes with Leonardo DiCaprio (who plays Romeo), when 20th Century Fox couldn't quite visualize the director's off-the-wall concept. Luhrmann says, "Although she's a fantastic young actor, she's a tiny little girl and Leonardo's six feet tall. He's 21, but can look 18. She made him look all of 21, and it just became obscene." Portman's version is this: "They said it looked like Leonardo was molesting me when we kissed. It was really disappointing, but I wouldn't have wanted to be in the movie and have it look wrong. If I was in the film, I would have wanted it to be perfect."
  
  
• All the guns in the film are named after types of swords (e.g., the gun that Mercutio drops into the sand is called Dagger).
  
  
• Cameo: [Martin Brown] The film's co-producer is the security man sitting at the monitors in the balcony scene.
  
  
• Cameo: [John 'Cha Cha' O'Connell] The choreographer plays the waiter at Sycamore Grove just before Mercutio's death scene.
  
  
• Christian Bale auditioned for the role of Mercutio.
  
  
• The music playing as Juliet shoots herself at the end of the film is Isolde's 'Liebestod' from Wagner's opera 'Tristan und Isolde.' The music serves a similar role in the opera, coming at the very end as Isolde dies at the feet of Tristan's corpse in order to be united with him in death.
  
  
• The handguns belonging to Benvolio (SWORD 9mm Series S), Mercutio (DAGGER 9mm) and Tybalt (RAPIER 9mm) are Taurus PT92 or PT99 9mm Parabellum pistols. The handguns used by Romeo, Sampson and Gregory (DAGGER .45s) are Colt M-1911 Combat Commander .45 caliber pistols. The other handguns used by Abra and Petruchio are Beretta 92FS 9mm Pistols.
  
  
• Baz Luhrmann sent British alternative-rock band Radiohead a videotape containing the last 20 minutes of the movie and asked them to make a song for the end credits. They composed the song "Exit Music (for a film)", which appeared on their 1997 album "OK Computer" (the director has said in the DVD commentary that he believes it's one of the best exit themes ever written)
  
  
• Leonardo DiCaprio's version of Romeo's speech at Juliet's bier was so good it moved Claire Danes to tears, nearly ruining the scene. The moment the director yelled "cut!," Danes smacked DiCaprio on the arm and said, "Don't make me cry. I'm supposed to be comatose, here!"
  
  
• Like most of Shakespeare's work, the verse of Romeo and Juliet is written in iambic pentameter. Pete Postlethwaite, who plays Father Laurence, is the only actor in the movie who speaks using this meter.
  
  
• Ted Montague's "Longsword" is actually a South African MAG-7 shotgun.
  
  
• Key hair stylist Aldo Signoretti was kidnapped by gang members and held for $300 ransom which Luhrmann paid.
  
  
• John Leguizamo auditioned for the part of Mercutio but was cast as Tybalt instead. Luhrmann had already determined that Mercutio was to be played by a black actor while Tybalt would be played by a Latino.
  
  
• Benicio Del Toro was considered for the part of Tybalt.
  
  
• In the scene at the gas station, one of the Montague boys recites "bubble, bubble, toil and trouble," to the nun and two passing students. The quote is from Shakespeare's Macbeth.
  
  
• When Tybalt's car rolls over, the roll cage, which is used to protect the stunt driver, collapses, almost breaking the stunt driver's neck.
  
  

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