Although Romeo and Juliet was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and one of his most frequently performed plays even today making it maybe a little bit dull already, still I had my reasons to write my assignment exactly about this play – two reasons actually – the great works of Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann. I have decided to compare both the highest-grossing Shakespeare films ever of their time as well as to draw a conclusion of how they have modified the original play of Shakespeare. Like all productions, they are interpretations, leaving some things out, putting others in, placing emphases differently than other productions, yet both of these movies have been so successful that rarely a person is able to read this story of tragic love without visualizing in the head the scenes from either of the films which makes them already part of the story.
The first of the two adaptations is Florentine director’s Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film. In the young lover roles are also young Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. The movie was nominated for 4 Academy awards including best picture and best director and won 2 of them for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design.…
