FIRST-TIME WATCHING *Romeo + Juliet* and Rizzo was BLOWN away!

[@PinkPopcast]

Join our TV Club on Fable to discuss what we're watching! fable.co/club/pink-popcast-tv-club-with-the-pink-popcast-132471617804

[@playfulpanthress]

Y'all should watch 'Much Ado About Nothing'!! Kenneth Branaugh's version. They still talk like this, but Branagh cuts it down so it isn't as wordy as R&J. And it's way more clear as to what everyone means. The cast is CRAZY GOOD!! You'd love it! Also, you should watch 'Reefer Madness' the musical one!!

[@graffic13]

Y'all need to watch Connie&Carla!

[@brittanyhoward1741]

This movie is so good, it’s one of the only adaptations in which EVERY shakesperiean scholar unanimously agrees that Harold Perrineau is *the* best actor to have ever played Mercutio

[@PinkPopcast]

Wait serious!? That’s so cool!

[@beckmannm]

He is EVERYTHING in this movie!

[@agenttheater5]

I mean John from the 1968 movie (the one that had a 17 year old actor (Leonard Whiting) playing Romeo and a 15 year old actress (Olivia Hussey) playing Juliet, and that was set in the 1300s rather than in Shakespeare's time) gave a great performance on his own. Either way, they're both SO much better than the Mercutio from the 30s movie and from the 2013 one (too bland, no fire in the Queen Mab speech, just sounded like rambling).

[@way2kool89]

So we all had the same experience lol

[@lwoods1940]

His performance is truly a masterpiece.

[@mari-vp8wn]

I can confirm that watching this in 9th grade English class changed my brain chemistry forever

[@PinkPopcast]

😂😂

[@border_line.]

literally me

[@AwokenSound]

Man. What was up with our 9th grade English teachers?

[@Forev3rYoung1947]

This is the one lol

[@jessicajovel7162]

We watched this in high school (in El Salvador, I don't know if that's surprising I'm just throwing it out there), by the death part, everyone was yelling nooooo when Romeo took the poison followed by a collective aarrrrgggg when she opened her eyes 😂

[@shadowclips3456]

Doesn’t matter what adaptation it is, Mercutio always ate the “A plague on both your houses” line 👏🏼

[@PinkPopcast]

👏👏👏

[@alib6615]

This may be a hot take, but I don't like "Romeo & Juliet". It is probably my least favorite of Shakespeare's works. However, the shining star in this story is Mercutio, and the world of Romeo and Juliet does not deserve him. I was more upset by his death than the titular characters. Such an amazing character and Harold Perrineau does the character justice! SO GOOD!

[@PinkPopcast]

@@alib6615 honestly I’m not the biggest fan of the story in general but I LOVE this version of it - Rizzo

[@alib6615]

@@PinkPopcast Oh, same. Love the take on this tale. I am much older than you and Benji and saw this movie opening weekend in high school with two of my closest friends (Claire and Leo...um, yes please). You cannot beat the campiness and craziness of this version. Loved the PinkPodcast reaction, as always!!!

[@lwoods1940]

@@alib6615 I agree with you. The underlying story is basically two teenagers being over dramatic and causing havoc. It's a bit annoying if you remove yourself from the drama and look at it objectively. That said, to defend this play a bit, as an audience maybe we are meant to identify with Mercutio having to deal with the protagonists' nonsense? Shakespeare was a satirist, but had to be careful in Tudor England not to offend the status quo too much, either way I'm with you Harold Perrineau's portrayal is a masterpiece.

[@ShelbyBaby27]

Fun Fact: Paul Rudd convinced Leo to do Titanic while filming Romeo + Juliet

[@PinkPopcast]

We will forever be in his debt for that 🫡

[@HelgaCavoli]

Was the other option for that Jack character.

[@dimbose9229]

@@HelgaCavoliJohnny Depp.

[@dylanbrown1326]

@@PinkPopcast I like the titanic movie because i love how rose and jack flies on a bow and hold on the stern while the ship sank.

[@cecizilla]

@@HelgaCavoliriver phoenix was a major one considered

[@asiadavisgurl1]

I still remember my 9th grade literature class watching Leo's introduction scene for the first time. The guys and girls were in a TRANCE. His face card was LETHAL.

[@PinkPopcast]

Truly!

[@gigglebuggy]

THIS IS THE ONLY RENDITION THAT MATTERS. My high school English teacher showed us this in class and I was absolutely obsessed. There is no better depiction of this story, and the cast was IMMACULATE. Ugh YOUNG HEARTS RUN FREEEE

[@PinkPopcast]

My English teacher was SLACKING!! I never got to see this 😭

[@gigglebuggy]

@@PinkPopcast I had the strictest teacher in the school too lol so yeah you should file a class action and catch a bag 🤣

[@shelbysmith6959]

My english teacher made us watch it. I have a love hate relationship with this movie. Its wild but i hate that at the time i was focusing too hard on deciphering what they were saying

[@thejenmath]

I also got to see this in English class sophomore year. But they covered the love screen with a clipboard 🙄

[@gigglebuggy]

@@thejenmath that's absolutely comical 🤣

[@cringewatchparty]

Benji, if you had seen it young, you'd be like the rest of us sad girls, waiting to fall in love through an aquarium while a dreamy song plays...

[@PinkPopcast]

Hahaha expectations set too high 😂

[@FJW212]

I'm blushing while watching this. I was in 8th grade when this came out. ALL the girls loved Leonardo! This was peak Leonardo Dicaprio (looks)!

[@mermerv]

Whenever I watch Shakespeare, I find it really difficult to understand for the first 20% or so of the play, but then the language starts to click for me and I get the rest of it pretty well. Rizzo definitely seemed like he understood a lot more as the movie went on, too.

[@PinkPopcast]

Definitely

[@MsNanceePants]

Me too! It's a documented cognitive experience, and it would have happened to even Shakespeare's original audiences 👍 (nobody in the late 1500s / early 1600s spoke in poetry in day-to-day life!) In the plays the expositional information is repeated in the first couple scenes, to help audiences keep up until their brains sort of 'click in'. Much of this redundancy was cut out of the movie, though, and replaced with visual storytelling.

[@BaileyPolice]

Rizzo: "Speak English" Movie: "Is speaking the most English of English" 😂😂 I love this movie. I put it on whenever I need to feel a little epic

[@PinkPopcast]

Too English lololol

[@autumnwolf9305]

As an English Lit teacher I give Benji an A! He did excellent in comprehension and translation!

[@PinkPopcast]

He says thank you!!! 💯

[@JesseElena]

I'm a 9th grade English teacher, so you can imagine how FAST I clicked on this lmao my classes are actually just about to finish Romeo and Juliet. I always show a more "traditional" version as we're reading and then this masterpiece is our end-of-year/end-of-unit "treat". I basically give no context beforehand, just that it's another "version", and watch a room full of 15-year-olds react to the gun fight at the beginning 😂 and OH MY GOD BENJI Thank you for knowing "Wherefore" means "Why"!!!

[@PinkPopcast]

Omg I would LOVE to see their faces

[@PokhrajRoy.]

“Our story starts with 2 besties who make videos…Popstars they were locked in an eternal feud about liking ‘Hocus Pocus…’

[@PinkPopcast]

Feud over! I love Hocus Pocus now!

[@Xenolilly]

I love Benji explaining everything to Rizzo. 😂

[@PinkPopcast]

😂😂

[@Ashely56]

I think it's because him doing this validates all this Shakespeare us theatre kids have trapped in our brains

[@HelgaCavoli]

AKA translating

[@justinec3294]

Did you know that this is part of Baz Luhrmann's theatrical trilogy? 1- Strictly Ballroom (Dance) 2- Romeo and Juliet (Theater) 3- Moulin Rouge (Musical) Strictly Ballroom is a HUGELY underestimated classic which is kitch, campy and cheesy in the best of ways: a true guilty pleasure! Hope you take the time to watch it someday :)

[@agenttheater5]

And has the benefit of having a fly on the wall directing it - Baz Luhrmann's mother taught ballroom dancing so he knew which dance steps would have been allowed in competitions and which wouldn't have

[@Alonetogether13]

As an Australian - strictly ballroom is one of the best Australian movies ever made. It’s so wonderfully tongue in cheek and such fun!

[@justinec3294]

@@Alonetogether13 heartily agreed!

[@emmybm15]

Yessss I too recommended it in the comments!!!! ❤❤❤ Let's all do the Bogo Pogo!!!! 💃💃💃

[@bdmccoy07]

@@Alonetogether13Australian camp is in a class of its own! IMO it’s one of the reasons Beyond the Thunderdome gets a bad rap. American audiences don’t get where George Miller is coming from AND they don’t know that Tina Turner is basically a queen down under.

[@daverowe03]

"You have dancing shoes with nimble soles. I have a soul of lead." Gotta love the wordplay

[@PinkPopcast]

Right? Lol

[@toriecarter2711]

Part of me wishes I lived in an alternate universe where Baz has a whole cinematic universe of him doing his own renditions of all of Shakespeare's major works in his signature style~~~

[@Velociraptour]

Just him and Kenneth Branagh trading blows.

[@PinkPopcast]

Omg yes 😂

[@agenttheater5]

yeah, that'd have been great. I guess him directing a performance of the opera of Midsummer Night's dream doesn't really count, does it? I'm pretty sure he did that. Definitely did a music video of a song from that opera I'm sure

[@ruthboydston3369]

I would watch that. Love both their movies.

[@NTWoo95]

Baz Luhrmann's Tempest would be wild

[@chichimmmmm1795]

I love this rendition of Romeo and Juliet. It’s like Baz told everybody play it for the cheap seats 😂😂

[@PinkPopcast]

Lmao and it worked

[@agenttheater5]

I mean it was written both for the cheap and the expensive seats - well when I say expensive seats I menthe people who could afford actual seats and by cheap seats I mean people who could only afford standing room (groundlings). But it was for everyone who had a few pennies to spare back when it was written.

[@LordVolkov]

They are playing for people on the sidewalk

[@jilliansmaniotto2326]

baz is absolutely batshit and I love that about him.

[@pinkpain-ter8412]

Shoutout to Benji for translating cause I was struggling

[@PinkPopcast]

He was a necessity

[@HelgaCavoli]

Someone payed attention at English class.

[@maryy.angell]

I don’t care about no outside opinions, Jonh leguizamo in this role was and will forever be iconic.

[@PinkPopcast]

Oh I for sure! As a Latin actor myself I’m proud of what he brought to this character. I was lying when I said I envy his career 💖

[@Alonetogether13]

Tybalt and Benvolio are just such underrated parts of this movie.

[@LordVolkov]

​@@PinkPopcastif you can find the recording of John's one man stage show Freak, it's amazing.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

“RIZZO RIZZO WHEREFORE ART THOU, RIZZO?” - Me watching Rizzo in his final drag look on ‘Drag Race’.

[@PinkPopcast]

“I’m over here”

[@alligatorinavest]

This cast is STACKED! This movie, Titanic obviously, the Basketball Diaries, etc. Young Leo was IT. I don’t know that there’s a young guy doing it like he did now. Chalamet is the obvious comparison, but things are so different now.

[@PinkPopcast]

Yea definitely different from classic Leo lol

[@KrystalAnn0688]

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape too!

[@georgethehernandez]

I read the book in my high school class, watched this movie also in that same class, and to this day .... I STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE SAYING! Rizzo you ain't alone! Benji should be rewarded for being our saving grace as our newly dubbed official translator!

[@PinkPopcast]

Bwahahaha thank god! 😂

[@josephine3027]

obsessed with this camp retelling, mercutio slayed

[@PinkPopcast]

⛺️

[@VashtiPerry]

I'm pretty sure this movie is exactly why everybody in my age range is almost everybody is single because it's so sad and beautiful at the same time. I had no business watching this when I was little

[@PinkPopcast]

Right!? It definitely sets up some unrealistic expectations

[@limitlesssoul2882]

This version is such a fever dream.

[@PinkPopcast]

Right!?

[@agenttheater5]

0:07 You know that the story has engulfed you when you know how the story ends but you keep begging "No! No! No!" when we actually get to the ending.

[@PinkPopcast]

😂

[@allysonrose4661]

Leonardo DiCaprio was the epitome of beauty in this movie, this was his peack fr

[@PinkPopcast]

This and titanic ofc lol

[@melissaisloud7404]

I saw this in theaters as a 13 year old girl. I am now 40, and I’m still in love with this film.

[@sierraalice8072]

You were the same age as Juliet

[@PinkPopcast]

😱😱😱

[@melissaisloud7404]

@@sierraalice8072 and just as in love with Leo D. as Juliet was with Romeo after this film. 😆

[@ActuallyAnanya]

It's amazing that despite struggling with the language yourself Rizzo, you were easily able to pick out the people who have experience with Shakespeare! The nurse (Miriam Margolyes) was in Shakespeare plays in secondary school in the UK, and Pete Postlethwaite was literally a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company (and also used to be a drama/theatre teacher).

[@miriam8376]

I think my favorite part of this movie is how it’s shot so wild and frenetic and over the top until the moment Romeo and Juliet see each other for the first time, and it’s so soft and still and quiet. It’s brilliant filmmaking, especially when most love stories play it the opposite-like love wakes you up. But Romeo and Juliet grew up with violence and war-of course they feel peace when they see each other. I also love that Shakespeare is very aware of how silly and dramatic fifteen year olds are. Doesn’t make it any less sad that they’re so naive-if anything it just points out how ironic and messed up it is that they can both be so attuned to violence at that age while being so oblivious to love.

[@deathwitheponine]

This film taught me that it’s ok to not know exactly what’s going on as long as the vibe is immaculate. I get it now, but I didn’t when it came out in ‘96. This film also taught me that Leo is not great at Shakespeare lol

[@emiliana1767]

I saw this movie the first time 25 years ago in the cinema, 15 years young, and it BLEW ME AWAY 🤯 it was so epic to see this on a big screen and with LEONARDO at his peak - a masterpiece from start to finish, there's nothing like it ❤ what an honor in hindsight to have seen this like it was supposed to be ❤

[@PinkPopcast]

🙌🙌🙌

[@MichelleMerinoArt]

I've actually never audibly gasped and clicked on a video as quickly as I just did. This movie was my obsession in the 90s.

[@PinkPopcast]

🙌🙌

[@LoveCourtM]

My last name actually being Montague, Rizzo’s accurate mispronunciation and response to being corrected is my life story 😩😂

[@PinkPopcast]

Bwahahahahaha that’s so cool though

[@CafeDeDuy]

Your last name is Montague?! HOLY CRAP

[@rachljperdew]

the adhd comment must be why I love Baz Luhrmann movies bc it’s perfect for my adhd brain to stay focused

[@PinkPopcast]

Haha yes!

[@mikeywise3411]

i have aspergers and i can testify that this was the film that made me be a film nerd instead of just a moviegoer

[@lizzyrank5405]

What I learned is that Shakespeare's talk was like Tolkens, he made itnup and other people around him didnt know what the actors were saying. Then iver time as you saw more you get the lingo, but even if you didnt the actors did such a great job at emoting that at times dialogue wasnt necessary.

[@PinkPopcast]

So goood even without understanding lol

[@Onesie288]

Not Rizzo telling me to shut up as I was agreeing with Benji lmaoo

[@PinkPopcast]

😂😂

[@crystalpritchard5065]

I don’t know if it’s still on Hulu, but if you so, you guys should react to Rosaline. It’s the story from Rosaline’s perspective, except they changed it so that she’s Juliet’s cousin, and therefore also a Capulet. Kaitlyn Dever plays Rosaline and is so good in the role.

[@PinkPopcast]

We definitely want to! If there’s an audience for it 👀

[@fourthdimensionaltraveller]

I’m pretty sure she’s a Capulet in the original too

[@crystalpritchard5065]

@@fourthdimensionaltraveller oh I didn’t know that! I assumed the movie changed it to have Rosaline and Juliet interact more

[@madgeapple]

​@@crystalpritchard5065Her name appears on the invitation list to the Capulet ball, 'Fair cousin Rosaline.'

[@agenttheater5]

Rosaline was always Juliet's cousin. It's in the script, Lord Capulet sends out a list of people too e invited to his party and has "my fair nieces Rosaline" and someone else's name is mentioned. The change that the movie made is that they made Rosaline Romeo's ex girlfriend. She wasn't. They were never together in the first place. He's moping about at the beginning of the story because he's infatuated with her and she's made it clear that she has no interest in a relationship with him or anyone else, no interest in romance whatsoever, full stop, and is instead hoping to be a nun or at least to remain chaste for as long as possible. And what's more she knew that he was only infatuated with her and wasn't in love with her - Friar Laurence talks about it, he said in that scene where Romeo tells him about himself and Juliet that she knew that his "love was - I think he said "like route that could not spell", like it was something he'd memorised but couldn't explain or understand. In any other productions that hint that there was ever something between them or that drop the chastity bit of the speech (the 60s version and 30s version) it would be more that SHE broke up with HIM - in the 30s version she was playing blind mans buff with a group of men, he grabbed onto her waist, she took of the blindfold, her smile dropped and she gave him a "I told you not to call me anymore" look, in the 60s movie we see him looking at her and see her surrounded but a small group of men, she seems to be enjoying the attention but not seriously interested in any of them. As it is I think I kind of like that story better than the "my ex-boyfriend dumped me for my cousin", the "look, he was a really sweet kid, but I told him from the start, I wasn't interested in anything serious. I knew he'd get over me soon enough, the notes he gave me were full of stuff from other poems that had already been written - don't get me wrong, they were good, but it was like he'd picked stuff English project rather than trying to tell me how he feels"

[@LiaaaaaaaaAAAAAHH]

Ok, I know the Shakespearean dialogue is hard to get through, but it gets easier the more you watch, SO you should see “Much Ado About Nothing.” I love the Keneth Branaugh version OR there is a Catherine Tate/David Tenanat stage recording on KZbin that is also amazing ❤

[@lillian8067]

The Tate/Tennant Much Ado is so unbelievably good, I'd love to see these two watch it!!

[@PinkPopcast]

Yea even Rizzo was understanding better by the end of this movie

[@beckmannm]

YES YES YES! The Branaugh/Thompson version is a classic, everyone is Golden and Beautiful! And the Tennant/Tate version is a PERFECT comedy, they have such scintillating chemistry together!

[@agenttheater5]

@@beckmannm are we asking for a two in one video with a comparison?

[@dragontears]

God yes. Not as exciting but Keanu and Denzel are great. Keanu ESPECIALLY.

[@AshlynnWittchow]

I show this movie to my English I students every year. Every year, I have to warn my neighbors that my students aren't fighting... they are just SHOOK by the dramatic irony in the final scenes.

[@PinkPopcast]

Lucky students lol, my teachers definitely dropped the ball on this one

[@caribbeanprncss]

I love watching my 9th graders have the same reactions to the ending every year. Even though we've already read it and they know exactly what happens they always yell at Juliet to move like Rizzo did. 🤣

[@PinkPopcast]

😂😂😂😂

[@mjgorgeous]

OMFG 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼 BENJI - RIZZO HOW HAVE U NOT SEEN THIS MASTERPIECE!! Harold Perrineau’s portrayal as Mercutio in this film to this day still gives me goosebumps and no one not even on the stage has topped his performance to me at least 👏😆

[@PinkPopcast]

He must feel so honored

[@maryamaoyefusi6141]

I memorized the whole Queen Mab monologue because of him!

[@kristynashley]

Rizzo this whole movie like “WHAT THEY SAID?!” 😂

[@PinkPopcast]

🤣🤣

[@alyshaking]

This movie's score is killer. I watched this back in 2000 and is one of my absolute fav Lurhmann movies.

[@tateperson]

38:26 it's sad but it's such a good concept, Willy Shakespeare really did that

[@PinkPopcast]

💀

[@LastKupoNut]

I was given a lower grade on a paper about this film because I refused to walk 40 mins in knee high snow at 8am to watch this in class as I own it on dvd. -.- It's been years and I'm still bitter. Loving the reaction though 😅

[@PinkPopcast]

OMGG you should be!! I’d be bitter too!

[@ObserverAmanda]

This unlocked a memory for me. I am still bitter about a multiplication sheet from the second grade. On two problems, the ending numbers were supposed to be 10 and 12, but the zero and two were not printed on all copies handed out to class. I got graded that the answer was wrong. I asked my teacher how they were wrong, but she said it was supposed to be those numbers. I remember being a little bit of a smartass and asked her how I was supposed to know when I only saw the sheet she passed out to me. I was so mad as an eight year old that I went home and told my parents they needed to call my teacher. They never did and I got stuck with that *wrong* grade. 😆

[@heatherrose5594]

This came out when I was a teenager, and it was a huge event! All the kids (maybe mostly the girls) loved it, and we all had the soundtrack on CD! It makes me nostalgic.

[@PinkPopcast]

Haha nice!

[@inheritmyshoes9559]

Baz used every word. Every word. And made it modern and beautiful.

[@waxwings1114]

the modern setting with the elizabethan english is amazing, i think every shakespeare adaption should do this. mercutio has always been my favorite character of this play and this version of him is just perfect, i love his performance so much

[@lunacouer]

16:29 Trust me Rizzo, no one is making fun that you didn't know this. I would bet most are like me and had no idea it meant "Why" either, but dang that line makes so much more sense in context now. Thanks for all the translating and educating Benji!

[@PinkPopcast]

“Shut up Benji”

[@betweencurls]

watching this as an English master who wrote her 60 page thesis on Shakespeare is sooooo funny to me. I forget how hard Shakespeare's language can be but I think it's how it's taught! I had great professors that made me fall in love with him so don't worry rizzo, we will teach u LOL. this is def one of the crazzzzzier versions of this play. I've seen so many different productions that they're all so campy and fun. THIS CAME AT THE BEST TIME.

[@PinkPopcast]

Aww yay! And thanks 🙌🏽

[@em8066]

Check out Benji with the Elizabethan knowledge! This movie was more 90s than the 90s. The ending destroyed me as a kid. And fun fact, Elizabethan plays had a tradition of starting with a prologue that summarized the plot in vague, foreshadowing rhyme. Another art house movie, Melancholia, does another modern take on the Shakespearean intro. It hints at the plot of the movie with visual metaphors portrayed by the actors in slow motion for the first few minutes. I thought it was pretty, but some people walked out of the theater in confusion before the movie really started. lol I could be way off about the costume symbolism, but Romeo dressing as a knight could represent his crusading spirit in pursuit of love, with Juliet's angel a representative of the heaven he seeks to serve. It also represents his willingness to fight to the death. Juliet's angel costume represents her pure heart and idealism, but also foreshadows that she is not long for this world. Juliet's angel belongs in the sky, but perhaps meeting Romeo brings her down in his heavy armor, despite the fact he sheds the heavy metal plates as he enters the party, making him just as vulnerable when he meets her. Paul Rudd aims high in his pursuit of Juliet's angel as well, but his cold, calculating approach is symbolized by his astronaut's costume. Rising to her level in the heavens would be unnatural for him, and it shows not just on the dancefloor, but in how casually he brushed off her father's concerns about Juliet being underaged and possibly unwilling. I love this sh*t.

[@PinkPopcast]

Haha you definitely love this sh*t 🙌🙌😂 thanks for the info!

[@basil33]

You ate

[@souleylove]

Listening to Rizzo mess up their names is hilarious!! And I can't stop "translating" along with Benji every time Rizzo goes "huh?" haha

[@PinkPopcast]

😂😂😂

[@StefanoPerfili]

But that pause right before "eyes" when Plant Priest is saying "Young men's love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their...eyes" !! 👀 19:48

[@hopet7090]

This movie is Sooo good. Watched it as a kid and in high school English class. Harold Perrineau as Mercutio is a classic performance just amazing. The artistry in this movie is so captivating

[@PinkPopcast]

Apparently he’s regarded as one of the best??? 👀

[@theroguey1]

Oof, the 3 best scenes are the fish tank, the rotating shot while they kiss in the elevator and the despair on his face when he realizes shes not dead. Oh how could I forget Harold Perineau as Mercutio! Amazing actor, the way he portrayed him was so dynamic! This was one of those movies that left such an impression on me! And the song Kissing You by Desiree and the vocals of Quindon Tarver (RIP) are just chef's kiss.

[@christinakathleen9445]

Oh man, the 90s was a wonderful time to be young in 😂 We had so much outrageous fun

[@PinkPopcast]

🙌🙌

[@agenttheater5]

OK, next up on the Shakespeare list: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) - starring Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christian Bale, Rupert Everett, Stanley Tucci and Dominic West. Much Ado About Nothing (1993) - starring Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, Kate Beckinsale, Brian Blessed, Richard Briers. As You Like It (2006) - starring Bryce Dallas Howard, David Oyelowo, Brian Blessed, Kevin Kline, Richard Briers, Adrian Lester, Alfred Molina and Romola Garai. Twelfth Night (1996) - starring Helen Bonham Carter, Ben Kingsley, Imogen Stubbs, Richard E. Grant, Toby Stephens and Nigel Hawthorne. Love's Labour Lost (2000) - starring Kenneth Branagh, Adrian Lester, Emily Mortimer, Nathan Lane, Alicia Silverstone, Alessandro Nivola, Matthew Lillard, and Timothy Spall. And note at the moment I'm only giving you the comedies - trying to pace myself.

[@PinkPopcast]

Oh my god I hadn’t heard of HALF of these 😱

[@agenttheater5]

@@PinkPopcast any actors you like in them?

[@bagelthebeagle8611]

Much Ado also had Keanu. I watched it so many times!

[@agenttheater5]

@@bagelthebeagle8611 whoops, can't believe I left him off the list. thanks :)

[@alexx5064]

@@bagelthebeagle8611this was one of my faves, everyone killed it (kate B didn’t have too much to work with so maybe not the highlight of the cast but everyone else) ✨chef’s kiss✨

[@missbeans]

Hahaha oh man this takes me back! I was in high school when this came out and it was HUGE to us teens back then. HUGE. Claire Danes and Leo DiCapprio were absolute teenage icons.

[@virtuallyveronicka]

I highly recommend Rosaline (2022), it’s hilarious and is a fun perspective of Romeo & Juliet from Rosaline’s side.

[@agenttheater5]

It's an incorrect one (she's not his ex girlfriend, he's pining after her but she turned him down from the word 'go') but I still don't get why it was deleted. They did that before as well, there was a series a few years ago called 'Still Star-Crossed' about Rosaline and Benvolio, set in the aftermath of Romeo and Juliet's death, with the feud still going on and a lot more political drama going on throughout the city. It got cancelled after 1 season and is now nearly impossible to find, and left us on a huge cliffhanger.

[@virtuallyveronicka]

@@agenttheater5 Even if the storyline was incorrect it was still a fun watch with beautiful costumes and scenery. Hulu like other streaming services will frequently wipe movies and shows to make way for new ones. However it came out for purchase on Prime and Apple TV so I bought it. Bummer about Still Star Crossed, I never heard of it.

[@natl5692]

I'm french. This is the first movie, i've ever watched in english. The teacher made us watch this when we were like 13. Let me tell you, it was HARD. Even now that i'm basically fluent, it's still hard

[@PinkPopcast]

Thank goodness it’s not just us

[@neivilde.1242]

i will noever forget the feeling of after our entire grade finished doing the shakespere module, having us all watch the movie in the auditorium together, and hearing everyone's reactions. so much fun!

[@PinkPopcast]

Oh my god I bet that was quite an experience. Clearly unforgettable 💖

[@bagelthebeagle8611]

Was so happy to see you were watching this one!! Had this soundtrack on repeat in the '90s.

[@PinkPopcast]

That soundtrack is rad AF!

[@missbellaiza]

Not me crying at the end, I’ve seen this before, read the book and seen a play of it, and I know how it ends. The performances still gets me, which makes this story believable then any other iteration.

[@PinkPopcast]

😭😭

[@alexx5064]

clare danes truly brought her all to this performance.

[@charlierayed]

From the comments, it looks like English teachers across the world are obsessed with this film. I went to a very religious school here in England and we watched it too 😅

[@PinkPopcast]

Hahaha aww we’re all the same 🎉

[@rosemangofairy]

The way that 90s Leo had me on a chokehold 😭

[@rubymilne6651]

We watched this in my English class one year in high school, I had seen it before then (not for a long time tho) and was reminded of how good it is!! We spent time talking about how light and dark are used in the movie and that in the first half it’s bright and almost magical to represent Romeo’s innocence (in a way) - but when mercutio is killed it gets dark and gloomy and bleak to show how he has changed and isn’t so innocent anymore. Idkkk I’ve been out of school for like 6yrs so this is a brief description of what we talked about… what I can remember anyway hahaha

[@PinkPopcast]

Oooh that’s a good observation

[@uncchristine99]

It's a mood! The opening trailer for itself and the shoot-out really set the tone and the music selection is immaculate. My favorite scene is when Leo walks into the church and you see all the blue neon crosses as he approaches Juliet at rest. OMG, the tension is off the charts.

[@Perfect_Argument]

I loved this movie when it came out and I still love it to this day. I walked out of the theater understanding that Shakespeare wrote this as satire. It's not a love story at all. But it's still grounded in the very real emotions of dramatic teens. It's so overwrought and I love it.

[@sabrinaf506]

@2:02 WAIT I also had an awkward experience where Jamie Kennedy did “standup” at a convention I was at and it was just “haha everyone gets cancelled now” and “edgy” jokes that made everyone uncomfortable (which included an SA joke, if I remember correctly). I also think he was drunk. But anyway, very very niche experience BUT I FEEL SEEN‼️

[@PinkPopcast]

We see you 😄

[@rawrrcat]

They were both the IT teens/young adults when this was made. it was perfect. this is perfect. best adaption of romeo and juliet.

[@PinkPopcast]

It’s definitely one of the best ones I’ve ever seen… second to Gnomio and Juliet 😜

[@rawrrcat]

@@PinkPopcast no. Just no. Lol 😂

[@PinkPopcast]

@@rawrrcat 💀

[@Neokitty55]

38:53 Leo's face when she taps his shoulder 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 I remember being in class laughing so hard.

[@PinkPopcast]

😭😭😭

[@tateperson]

42:18 wait that's actually so real! This is what it'd feel to see the first first 'rendition' of Romeo and Juliet

[@PinkPopcast]

It must have been an experience

[@danielcody7568]

21:32 Ask any actor who has played Mercutio in a production of “Romeo & Juliet” what the most fun and best character they’ve ever played was, and they’ll probably say “Mercutio”. He’s so much fun to play, he’s goofy and doesn’t take things very seriously, he’s got most of the funny lines and a lot of great monologues, and at his death scene, he gets all serious and intends a curse on both families with his dying breath.

[@Karla-op1gn]

This is literally the first Bridgerton

[@PinkPopcast]

😂

[@angiebangie6372]

fun fact (currently in an early shakespeare class) the scene where romeo and juliet meet is in fact a shakespearian sonnet. if you look up their meeting scene or glance at it in the screenplay text you’ll see it! but that’s kinda what i love about this movie. it uses shakespeare’s script but has the baz luhrman stamp on it with vibrant colors, intense saturation and contrast, jarring cuts. it’s so chaotic and charming at once i love moulin rouge for that reason. the script and the story are the same damn thing most us have either heard about and know the ending of or we’ve been forced to read it at some point in academic spaces. but it’s because of how baz luhrman animates a vision so brilliantly. and yes, shakespeare’s language is difficult and understanding the poetic tools when hearing them for the first time and having no knowledge of the many tropes, schemes, etc. used, it feels like utter nonsense. it’s taught terribly in high school, and truthfully isn’t for everybody. i’ve enjoyed it tho. i took a prosody class on meter, rhythm, and poetic tropes and schemes so right before taking this shakespeare course so it was perfect timing. i only read r+j, midsummer nights dream, and twelfth night all the way through. the comedies are amazing and idk i think i’m just a hopeless romantic. richard ii, henry iv (?) and hamlet weren’t romantic. boo.

[@mavricksama]

I love that you referenced Dragonheart! Not a lot of people know that movie and I grew up watching that movie.

[@samanthanotsamiam8404]

I grew up in a small midwestern town where the only movie theater was a one room independent theater who played their movies for 8-12 weeks. I remember my friends and I going to see this every other week for 3 months when we were in 8th grade, the opposite weeks we went to the local putt putt course. I remember having to translate Shakespeare because I was the only theater kid amount them and none of them had read any Shakespeare before that.

[@samanthanotsamiam8404]

Amongst not amount

[@anmamo]

Gwyenth Paltrow did do a version of Romeo and Juliet called Shakespeare in Love so I totally understand the confusion!

[@PinkPopcast]

Okay I’m not crazy lol

[@alexx5064]

well it’s an amalgamation of many of Willy’s books, plays and comedies. but yeah

[@sjsf100]

But it was also a bit of twelfth night

[@Juggler1525]

I first tuned to the Pink Popcast because of Eric Striffler, but now I'm hanging out and binging you guys. You both are delightfully humorous :)

[@PinkPopcast]

Aww thank you so much!!!

[@cheryljones6654]

@PinkPopcast Was that my boy PRINCE, "When Doves Cry"?! LOVE it. I am in!

[@HerHollyness]

When I tell you my secondary school English teachers LOVED this adaptation… the film was already 10 years old by that time but they could not wait to show us this. Benji’s translations are actually incredible - secret Shakespeare stan! 😂 Also, it’s hilarious that Rizzo says they sound like Sims to him because part of the reason I know so much about Shakespeare is The Sims! The Sims 2 had a neighbourhood called Veronaville, which was a blend of a bunch of Shakespeare stories (including Romeo and Juliet). It inspired me to look up the original stories and read most of them even before studying them in school. 🙂 Edit: You also had it right first time regarding Pete Postlethwaite - he’s playing the apothecary AND the Friar (the characters were merged for this adaptation).

[@missbellaiza]

You gotta react to all of these modern adaptations of these Shakespearean: Ten Things I hate about you (Taming of the Shrew), Lion King (Hamlet), and others I’m forgetting.. idk any movie that has a modern adaptation to Othello, but it’s my favorite one lol

[@juliaesa1]

The song when they "meet" is sooo beautiful! Des'ree voice is magical.

[@MZ-bl6wg]

I bought this movie soundtrack on CD the weekend I saw the movie in theaters , still one of my favorite soundtracks !

[@PinkPopcast]

Oh my god this soundtrack SLAPS!

[@MZ-bl6wg]

@@PinkPopcast it does SO much, it’s on KZbin both the instrumental B side soundtrack and the A side artist tracks side. Man I Love this movie and soundtrack. ❤

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Apparently, Kelly Kapoor also loves this adaptation of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ #TheClaireDanesOne

[@PinkPopcast]

❤️❤️

[@PinkPopcast]

As well she should

[@tateperson]

39:50 ooo the single tear

[@PinkPopcast]

😢

[@doulacandice]

It's WILD seeing you two react to this. I was a teenager when this first came out.. We all lost our minds for Leo back then. LOL This movie is SO good and the soundtrack is amazing too.

[@tateperson]

37:11 funny you say that because if i remember well (or paraphrasing) : "everyone's got one sheriff" -Billy Loomis, Scream (1996)

[@PinkPopcast]

Hahaha

[@Ps1000]

Baz Luhrmann is pure art! My favorite director, without a doubt. You should watch “strictly ballroom” next 😊

[@Tiffany-gz7wt]

YES! Baz Luhrmann fully embraced the drama. You guys should watch his film 'Strictly Ballroom.' Even more campy, ADHD what-the-f*ckery, & still appreciating all that is ridiculously sparkly. *Also, +1 for Thug Notes reference.

[@alextaylor9151]

Shakespeare's tragedies are something that's for sure. I truly love them though it's such an amazing script I will never get over the lines.

[@agenttheater5]

17:42 See what I mean when I say 'she's not an idiot'? I mean this along with what she said just afterwards, that even though she was happy to find that he loved her she was frightened by the fact that their love was so sudden - "too rash, too like the lightning which doth cease to strike ere one says 'it lightens'"

[@Forev3rYoung1947]

Did I want to name my future child Mercutio after seeing this crxck head ahh movie in 10th grade? Yes. Yes I did

[@VashtiPerry]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@PinkPopcast]

Fair!

[@charischislett-mcdonald2001]

This is one of the two versions we watched in school English Lessons in the UK. It was my intro to Romeo and Juliet.

[@kishahelena5312]

I so badly wanted to help translate, I love Shakespeare. I'm 90's teen so when this came out on video in middle school we watch both this one and the 60's movie after we read the play. I wish you guys could watch Rosaline the 2022 comedy with Kaitlyn Dever about Romeo and Juliet from the perspective of Rosaline the chick he was pining for before he saw Juliet. It was cute, but it's no longer on Hulu.

[@PinkPopcast]

It’s not on Hulu anymore!?!?!?

[@kishahelena5312]

@@PinkPopcast , *laugh* I checked, I was so mad! You have to rent it on prime or Google. Which is stupid because it was a branded Hulu. And, You guys are so great! I watch because you can't watch everything with friends in real life.

[@agenttheater5]

@@PinkPopcast I mean I was annoyed they portrayed her as Romeo's ex and though mocking the language was starting to get a bit unoriginal but that was no reason to cancel it. I don't get it when they delete things like that. I was more annoyed when they cancelled 'Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies" after ending season 1 on a cliffhanger and then deleting it from Paramount so now it's only available to buy on iTunes, but in both cases it makes no sense, neither (as far as I could tell) were offensive or racist and it's a slap in the face to the work of the cast and crew. Don't suppose I could ever get you interested in seeing 'Rise of the Pink Ladies', could I?

[@ccochran4191]

I saw this when I was 16 when it came out. I had both soundtracks and it was such a big part of my high school life. I’m so glad you covered it!

[@ranga1cat]

I think you guys would also enjoy strictly ballroom. It’s another Baz Luhrmann film set in Australia. Super campy and over the top. Edit: also Mercutio’s name is derived from Mercury the planet of communication which is why it’s funny you clocked him having over the top monologues.

[@seattlecryptid]

I watched this (probably far too young) with my parents and just remember sobbing at the end. But the aesthetics of this movie were just *chefs kiss*. What's wild is that because of this movie there's another Shakespeare adaptation of a very similar vein called "Cymbeline" starring Penn Badgley and Dakota Johnson, John Leguizamo and Vondie Curtis-Hall even appear in it. It... It's a movie that tries but it at least commits to the original text all the way through where they speak Shakespearean 😅