Latest news with #JulietAndRomeo
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Juliet & Romeo review: Never was a story more woeful
Juliet & Romeo Director : Timothy Scott Bogart Cert : 12A Starring : Jamie Ward, Clara Rugaard, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Nicholas Podany, Derek Jacobi, Martina Ortiz Luis, Rupert Graves Running Time : 2 hrs 2 mins It's a small point, but one of the more bizarre oddities – among many – in this hopeless musical variation on Shakespeare 's most kissy play is the stubborn visibility of the actors' breath, even when indoors. The original work is set in balmy Verona towards the end of July. Could someone not have bunged an auld Superser into the shooting space? Jason Isaacs , Rupert Everett and (god bless him) Derek Jacobi deserve better. Anyway, one needs something to divert oneself when sitting through two hours of dreary sub-boyband ballads sung in unending transatlantic warble. What we have here, courtesy of the brothers Timothy Scott Bogart and Evan Kidd Bogart, is the alleged opening third of a trilogy based around 'the real-life [sic] 1301 story that inspired Shakespeare's greatest tale'. Trilogy? No reader of The Irish Times will need to be told that the title characters died at the end of Shakey's version. Are they really going to spend 122 minutes on the first act and a half? Will parts two and three work as prequels? For fear of spoilers, we'll deliver the answer parenthetically at the end of the review. To be fair, the Bogarts – sons of Neil Bogart, late founder of renowned disco label Casablanca Records – are not without ambition. Juliet & Romeo makes some attempt to address Verona's complex relations with Rome in the early 14th century. There is an admirable aside about the pressures then put on the Jewish communities. READ MORE Otherwise the story, delivered in flat modern vernacular, sticks reasonably closely to the familiar text. The Danish actor Clara Rugaard is rather good as Juliet. The Australian Jamie Ward doesn't fall over as Romeo. They become entangled despite being from warring families. They flirt on balconies. 'What's a name, really?' one actually says. [ Dangerous Animals review: Jaws meets Wolf Creek in this watery Ozploitation movie Opens in new window ] The thing is unremittingly dull and bland (not to mention cold, apparently). If it is good for anything it is good for providing deserved paid holidays to venerable older actors and their long johns. Jacobi is a wonder. Not only, at 86, is he leaping around like a young thing, but, in the role of Friar Lawrence, he manages to make the dialogue sound like something other than spiritless pabulum. Whatever they paid him it was not nearly half enough. (Parenthetical spoiler: the lovers don't die at the end any longer. The friar had a plan all along.) In cinemas from Friday, June 11th
Forbes
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Pop Musical ‘Juliet & Romeo' Starring Jason Isaacs, Rebel Wilson Is A Family Affair For Father-Daughter Directing Duo Timothy & Quinn Bogart
Rebel Wilson as Lady Capulet in 'Juliet & Romeo' It seems Timothy Bogart was always destined to make a musical. After all, his father, Neil Bogart, was a legend in the music industry. Aside from the fact that he founded a pair of record labels (Casablanca and Buddha), Neil also helped launch such iconic acts as KISS, Donna Summer, and The Village People. One could call it a professional journey worthy of the silver screen and indeed, his life and career took center stage in Tim's 2023 tribute biopic, Spinning Gold. But while movie took place squarely in the realm of music, it wasn't necessarily a musical in the traditional sense. Tim has finally crossed the lyrical genre off his bucket list with Juliet & Romeo (now playing in theaters nationwide; click here for tickets). Written and directed by Tim — and featuring original songs by Justin Gray and Tim's Grammy Award-winning brother, Evan Kidd Bogart (Beyonce's 'HALO' and Rhianna's 'SOS') — the film delivers a pop-inspired take on the perennial Shakespeare classic, with heavy hitters like Jason Isaacs (The White Lotus), Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect), Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), Rupert Everett (Shrek 2), and Derek Jacobi (The Crown) making up the core cast. What's more Bogart brought his daughter, aspiring producer/filmmaker Quinn, along for the ride as his second unit director, convincing her to temporarily drop out of NYU's prestigious Tisch program for the Italian shoot (don't worry, she went back to school afterwards!). The rationale for what Tim jokingly describes as 'the worst parenting move in history' was simple. "What better education for a young filmmaker than literally coming to Italy and being there through the entire pre-production process?" the director muses over Zoom. 'I would argue [it was] a pretty good parenting move,' counters Quinn on the same call. 'The education that I received is unlike anything else.' Nevertheless, the offer came as quite a shock. 'I kind of froze," she admits. "I was unsure if he was kidding. It's not something he would joke about, but I couldn't fully process it." For Tim, however, this wasn't some average bring-your-daughter-to-work-day scenario. It was a chance to pass down some of the same professional wisdom his father once gave him. Since the dawn of Hollywood, the children of successful actors, directors, and producers have almost always followed in their parents' footsteps; entering the family business, keeping the dynasty alive. Sofia Coppola, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jason Reitman, Brandon Cronenberg, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jeff Bridges, Anjelica Houston, Josh Brolin, Sosie Bacon, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Margaret Qualley, Lewis Pullman, and Maya Hawke are just a few notable examples out of dozens. 'There was no line between work and family, it was all just one thing,' Tim says of his "weird 1970s" upbringing that made him fall in love with the entertainment industry. An industry like no other, perhaps, but an industry all the same. 'As soon as my kid was old enough to walk, I did the same to her, dragging her on sets, making her sit around when I was writing, working, and editing.' 'I was watching my dad and shadowing him for a large majority of my childhood as soon as I was old enough to be on-set,' echoes Quinn, remembering how her father gradually began to give her odd jobs here and there. On Spinning Gold, for instance, she was put in charge of filming close-ups of albums. While not as exciting as directing a major dramatic sequence with A-listers, these seemingly miscellaneous tasks added up to a valuable store of moviemaking knowledge. 'I've gotten far more experience than I would have without him,' she adds. 'The goal is essentially to take everything I can from it and then use it to continue telling the same kind of stories that my family has been telling for quite a while — whether it's through music or through film.' Tim Bogart on the set of 'Juliet & Romeo' Going from insert shots to overseeing an entire second unit of an international film production comprising hundreds of crew members and globally-known actors an ocean away is one hell of a promotion, Tim knew that Quinn — more than anyone else — could be trusted to help realize his vision. 'I had spoken to a couple people in the past trying to find someone, and it was always really challenging,' he says. 'I remember sitting there going, 'I just wish there was someone who knew this movie as well as I do.' And it was such a silly epiphany. I was like, 'This may be crazy, but gosh, if anybody knows why I wanted to do this, it's my daughter." Moreover, she would bring a crucial female viewpoint to a story involving a pair of star-crossed lovers (played by Clara Rugaard and Jamie Ward) on opposite sides of the gender spectrum. 'We have a very different approach to our Juliet in this [movie] and frankly, all the women [characters]," Tim continues. 'To say that was, in large part, inspired by my kid would be an understatement. It was a constant kind of compass where she just kept going, 'That that's not what I would do. That's what my friends would do. That's not what we would do.' In my personal search for material, it's always about humanity. That was one of the things my daughter kept me on track [with regards to], 'What is authenticity for this group of characters dealing with these themes that are relevant today?'" With Quinn on board as second unit director, principal photography for Juliet & Romeo kicked off in November 2022 and spanned nearly five months on location in Italy, eventually concluding in March 2023. Tim characterizes the arduous shoot as one of the difficult, yet rewarding, experiences of his career thus far. 'My [guiding light] from day one was, 'You cannot make this movie without being there, without feeling it,'' he explains. 'Because we were going to be taking such an enormous leap with people singing, I knew that I had to make sure the authenticity of everything else was so grounded … Going from a 100-person crew on a sound stage [for Spinning Gold] to over 400 people [for Juliet & Romeo], literally on mountaintops all night, shooting for months and months and months in the rain and snow, it couldn't have been more challenging.' As Quinn puts it, the whole adventure represented 'a trial by literal fire" that required her to jump into the deep end of the pool. 'I was dealing with more elements than I probably ever [will] in my own independent directing, writing, and producing career at the moment," she says. "So getting to experience that, as well as being on location in these massive castles, learning how to use my performers in the spaces … was something I don't think you can experience unless you're on that scale.' From beginning to end, though, Juliet & Romeo was very much a family affair, albeit one of a much more genial nature when compared to the bad blood between the Montagues and Capulets. As the old saying goes, blood — and directorial instincts — are thicker than water. 'Maybe another second unit director might have done it," Tim muses. "I just know every frame that Quinn was working on was coming right out of my head. And it was glorious.' LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 29: (L-R) Winslow Fegley, Jason Isaacs, a guest, Ledisi, Jeremy ... More Jordan, Timothy Bogart, Tayla Parx, Casey Likes and Wiz Khalifa attend the World Premiere Of "Spinning Gold" at Directors Guild Of America on March 29, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by) Juliet & Romeo is now playing in theaters everywhere.
Washington Post
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
‘Juliet & Romeo': Shakespeare gets malled
Panning a movie like 'Juliet & Romeo' is a little like kicking a puppy. A puppy that chews the furniture, soils the rugs and projectile vomits on the guests, but a puppy nevertheless. This maladaption of William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' only wants to please its target audience of early-middle-school girls by replacing iambic pentameter with lots and lots of pop songs, swooning with plastic sentiments and machine-tooled harmonies. Replace the Bard with a Top 40 production team and his soliloquies with sub-Swiftian lyrics (Taylor, not Jonathan) and you can imagine the results. This isn't a movie, it's a prom theme.
Geek Tyrant
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Trailer for JULIET & ROMEO a Musical Based on Shakespeare's Iconic Story — GeekTyrant
Icon Film has released a trailer for Juliet & Romeo , another film adaptation of William Shakespeare's iconic story, and this one is a pop musical. Set at the end of the Medieval era, ' Juliet & Romeo reimagines the world's most famous star-crossed lovers (Clara Rugaard and Jamie Ward ), uncovering the true history behind Shakespeare's story and its impact on the future of the Empire. 'But the biggest twist? This timeless tale trades traditional verse for original new pop music, bringing its powerful themes to life in a fresh, unexpected and deeply moving way. 'Fall in love with Shakespeare's iconic tale all over again, with brand-new, visionary movie-musical, Juliet & Romeo . In an epic journey of battles and betrayal, set amidst the birth of the Italian Renaissance and the wars that would end the Middle Ages, prepare for the world's most famous lovers to turn the tides on history as we know it. 'Leaving the poetry of iambic pentameter in the past, and packed with original songs and music from GRAMMY-Winner, Evan Kidd Bogart (Beyonce's 'Halo' / Rihanna's 'SOS'), this innovative twist on the theatrical classic features an incredible cast including Rebel Wilson, Rupert Everett, Jason Isaacs, Rupert Graves, Tony Award-winner, Dan Fogler, and Derek Jacobi.' The movie is directed by Timothy Scott Bogart, and it will be released in theaters on May 9th, 2025. I'm not impressed, but maybe some of you will like what you see.
