Romeo + Juliet 20th Anniversary: Baz Luhrmann shares unpublished archive material

RomeoandJuliet - Baz Luhrmann - nessymon

RomeoandJuliet - Baz Luhrmann - nessymonNovember 1st 2016 is the 20th anniversary of the release of the Baz Luhrmann directed William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. I’ve written about R+J before in the shape of a college assignment which explored the opening sequence of Mr Luhrmann’s film.

You can find that here. This article is one of the most viewed pages on my little website. Thank you if you are one of over 45000 people who have read it.

I thought it important to add to that piece by bringing together what Baz Luhrmann had to say about the film.

The film, starring Leonardo Dicaprio and Clare Danes was, and still is, a feast for the senses. The visuals of modern Verona with juxtaposition Shakespearean language and a soundtrack only many could dream of compiling.

Baz Luhrmann shares Romeo + Juliet images on Instagram

Starting with the first post about Romeo and Juliet that Baz put on Instagram, I’ll add to this post each time he updates. Mr Luhrmann shares behund the scenes information and production mood boards which add to understanding how and why the film looks and sounds like it does.

He’s answering questions about the film that I only ever wished I could have asked.

#romeoandjuliet

A photo posted by Baz Luhrmann (@bazluhrmann) on

These are very precious boards. We tried to convey the idea of a mashup (back then we called it collage) of not only references to our world with images from such diverse locales as contemporary South America to the Vietnam war, but also different winks and nods to the world of the movie. You'll see in the corner Anton Monsted, who was my then assistant and whom I went on to produce music with, wearing that oh-so special Japanese-Hawaiian shirt that Kym Barrett had sourced in the backstreets of Sydney, approximately 18 months before the film. The Capulets were more influenced by South America and the Montagues more influenced by Americana (Hawaiian shirts, American Cargo Pants). We went on then to create Hawaiian fabrics that included all of the iconography and imagery from the film to produce all the shirts. Kym was particularly creative in this regard. #romeoandjuliet

A photo posted by Baz Luhrmann (@bazluhrmann) on

#romeoandjuliet

A photo posted by Baz Luhrmann (@bazluhrmann) on

Again, thanks for reading my moving image analysis of the opening sequence of William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, directed by Baz Luhrmann.

I’m a huge fan of Mr Luhrmann’s work and I’m currently looking at how The Get Down echoes The Red Curtain Trilogy.

Stay tuned!