Never was a story of more woe than this new trailer for ROMEO & JULIET

I’m sure that there will be people who will look at this new trailer for Romeo & Juliet and go “WTF?! They’re rebooting Romeo+Juliet? Not only are they moving it from Miami to Venice, but they’ve also replaced all the cool guns with sissy swords! NO!”. And it’s probably because of folks like these, only familiar with Baz Lurhman’s most recent contemporary take on the Bard’s classic love story and clearly allergic to reading, that Emmy Award winning Downtown Abbey man Julian Fellowes has decided to redo the tale the way Shakespeare intended.

So no, no Leonardo DiCaprio sporting blingy guns and priests more tattoed than your average Hell’s Angel, just straightforward Shakespeare. And it does look rather good.

An ageless story from the world’s most renowned author is reimagined for the 21st Century.  This adaptation is told in the lush traditional setting it was written, but gives a new generation the chance to fall in love with the enduring legend.  With an all-star cast including Hailee Steinfeld, Douglas Booth, Paul Giamatti and Stellan Skarsgard, it affords those unfamiliar with the tale the chance to put faces to the two names they’ve undoubtedly heard innumerable times: Romeo and Juliet.  Every generation deserves to discover this lasting love.

Romeo & Juliet being arguably the most well-known Western love story in history, there aren’t many people who will be surprised by the story, so this will be made or broken by the direction and most importantly, the actors’ performances. And thus far they both look pretty solid. Anybody that’s seen True Grit will know that Hailee Steinfeld is definitely a talent to keep an eye on, and it certainly looks she’s living up to that potential here. I was lucky enough (phew!) to not have seen Miley Cyrus’ LOL, so this will be my first real experience of Douglas Booth, so lets hope he can match his co-starlet’s performance.

Romeo & Juliet will be biting their thumb at you on October 11, 2013.

Last Updated: July 30, 2013