The city of Verona is about to be filled with pop music this summer with the release ofJuliet & Romeo, and yes, you read those names in the right order. A new spin onWilliam Shakespeare’s legendary tale of love and tragedyis coming soon from directorTimothy Scott Bogart, taking direct inspiration from the same 1301 tale that spurred the Bard to craft the most famous lovers in all of fiction. It’ll see Juliet and her Romeo, played byBlack Mirror’sClara RugaardandThe Last Supper’sJamie Ward, respectively, not just defying the long-standing feud between the Montagues and the Capulets but the very conventions of Shakespeare’s timeless story. As part ofCollider’s Exclusive Previewevent for summer movies, we can share the official trailer for the musical film along with a conversation with the director, teasingthe star-crossed romanceahead.
From the very beginning of the trailer,Juliet & Romeoshows it’sno ordinary adaptationthanks to a striking original pop song and choreography setting the stage for the lovers' first encounter. Alas, the cheerful couple catches the eye of their parents, namelyRebel Wilson’s Lady Capulet, cutting their love song short, for the union of a Montague and a Capulet would “set the world on fire.” Other tunes made specifically for the movie can be heard as the duo work to defy their families and, in Juliet’s case, an arranged suitor to explore their love for each other. Even as the story heads to its darkest corners in their fight to be together, the large-scale dance sequences involving everyone from the young up-and-coming stars to the veterans of stage and screen are made to ensure Bogart’s adaptation never stops feeling like a rendition of the greatest love story ever told. Yet, the bombastic pop balladscan’t hide the tragic fateawaiting Juliet and Romeo if they don’t subvert the history of Shakespeare’s tragedy.
“Creating a completely immersive world that would feel real for the audiences, yet celebrate this energy and emotion of the characters, was crucial in bringing these musical numbers to life,” Bogart replied when Collider’sMaggie Lovittasked about the most exciting part of constructing the massive choreographed sequences featured in the trailer. “Months of exploration, choreography, and rehearsals led to us putting all of that in motion on mountaintop villages, in the rain and snow, and in the middle of the night!” In addition to having idyllic locations to work with,the team had an ace up its sleeve in Oscar-winningSweeney Toddproduction designer Dante Ferretti, who could make the most of the locales, according to the director. “It was a thrill to see it coming to life in these real locations, designed by the brilliant Dante Ferretti. Watching our remarkable cast discover the soul of their characters, while discovering their places in this musical world, was simply the highlight of my career.”
‘Juliet & Romeo’ Sports a Deep Cast With “Mind-Bogglingly Good Voices”
Rugaard and Ward lead a deep ensemble inJuliet & Romeo, joined by a strong mix of experienced and up-and-coming actors including Wilson,Rupert Everett,Jason Isaacs,Dan Fogler,Derek Jacobi,Rupert Graves, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Tayla Parx, Ledisi, Dennis Andres, Martina Oritiz Luis, Alex Grech, andMax Parker. For some of the players in Shakespeare’s tale, the film will expand their roles to fit the revamped story,like Wilson’s Lady Capulet, whose complex portrayal was inspired in part by the actress’s own recent experience with motherhood. The star power wasn’t exclusive to the cast, either. Bogart’s Grammy-winning brother,Evan Kidd Bogart, known for gargantuan pop hits likeBeyoncé’s “Halo,” composed the original soundtrack with help fromJustin Gray. He also served as an executive producer, joiningMonika Bacardi, Russell Geyser, Laurence Mark, Tom Ortenberg, Clay Pecorin, Gary A. Randall, andAndrea Zoso, alongside producers Timothy Scott Bogart,Brad Bogart, Andrea Iervolino, Jessica Martins, andChris Torto.
Easily the greatest challenge in casting for Timothy Scott Bogart was finding the titular duo. With the weight of history andthe knowledge of other performancesgiven byOlivia Hussey,Leonard Whiting,Claire Danes, andLeonardo DiCaprio, among others, it was a challenge to find the perfect duo for his unique vision of the story. However, he had nothing but glowing praise for Rugaard and Ward, who stood out from the crowd from the moment he saw them put it together as Juliet and Romeo:
“Romeo & Juliet are arguably the most famous characters in the history of drama. So, finding who to play them was unbelievably daunting! We always imagined a very different take on these kids. Juliet needed to be a young woman of startling clarity of her own view of her life, with the agency to demand more for herself and the people she loves. Romeo needed to be powerfully centered in his own view of the world, and needed to instantly convey that this time, the story just may be different. Bringing a handful of actors to screen test in Italy, we were able to experience the absolute wonder of Clara Rugaard and Jamie Ward bringing it all together. Their vocals were authentic and flawless. But it was the nuanced strength of their performances, and the electrified chemistry between them, that made it clear — Juliet & Romeo were standing before me."
Bogart’s musical feature is meant to be merely the first act of a three-film trilogy based on the original story behindRomeo & Juliet, meaning his vision of Verona is quite a bit grander than past adaptations. When Lovitt sat down with Isaacs last year forThe Salt Path, he expressed his wishes for the full series to come to fruition, even ifhe didn’t get the chance to show off his pipesin the first film. “I don’t sing [in] it, and rather irritatingly," he said. “I’m hoping it’s one of three, a trilogy.” Some of his highest praise came for Evan Bogart and Gray’s original compositions, as he understood just how difficult it was to get people to sing along to songs they had never heard. “But I can tell you, once you’ve heard them twice — I’d be on the set, and they’d be shooting them all day — they are the catchiest tunes I’ve ever heard in my life.Icame home singing them.”
Like the director, Isaacs believes this version of Verona is given an edge by the film’s young leads, Rugaard and Ward, whohe says have “mind-bogglingly good voices.“Combined with the bravery of the director Bogart to not onlyapproach Shakespeare from such a different anglebut to shoot for a potential trilogy to tell this story, it all made him so excited to see the finished product in theaters:
“He’s just got balls the size of planets. I mean, to make an original musical based on thesourcematerial forRomeo and Juliet, which is a different story fromRomeo and Juliet, and to tell it on this big, epic scale is just… Towantto do that and then to find the money to do that and to make it… So many things we watch on screen are like the other things we’ve seen on screen and playing it safe, and he’s playing it so unsafe. I thought it was fabulous while we’re making it. I can’t wait to see it.”
Bogart Borrowed From Around the Real and Theatrical World to Create ‘Juliet & Romeo’
Just about every aspect ofJuliet & Romeo’s existence matches Isaacs’s description of “playing it so unsafe.” Even the costume design was given painstaking attention by Bogartto ensure it was unlike what viewers had seen before from period pieces and Shakespeare adaptations. His team’s efforts quite literally spanned the globe to find the right materials to not only be authentic to the time of the story but say something about each of the characters:
“The costumes were unbelievably challenging to get right. It would be easy to fall into the trap of a more reserved, or staged look, with all the grandeur we’ve seen before. But we were making a film that needed to feel relatable to all ages today. We were committed to the authenticity of the piece, and all would be driven by the muscularity of the world. Working with the exquisitely talented costume designer,Luciano Capozzi, the design work took months, exploring the fabrics and colors that would have existed at that time. We embraced the international trade, with materials from around the world making their way to Verona. All of that was put into action, requiring hundreds of costumes, shoes, belts, you name it! It was always a thrill on the bigger days, watching Luciano lead his team to make certain that every single person on screen had an authenticity and a story all their own.”
All that hard work was entirely necessary in Bogart’s eyes because he was so dead set on a specific vision that required every moving part to be correct. “Getting the right tone for any piece is always crucial, but on this film, there really is no movie without a committed vision for how this particular world would work,” he replied. When specifically asked about the musical inspirations forJuliet & Romeo, he couldn’t just settle down on one or two beloved films that influenced him, but rather looked at one unifying element between all of them. In his eyes,the best musicalsall have moments thattranscend their iconic songs and dancesto hit at something real. That became the ethos for his take on Shakespeare’s tale of romance and tragedy — distilling a long-told story into something that can hit home for audiences in the modern day:
“I’ve always thought there are two kinds of musicals… the first, where there’s a Milkman who clearly knows he’s in a musical – and even his cow seems to know he’s in a musical! It’s not a real world – and I’ve always found that a little distancing. Then there’s the world where the music is such an integral driver, that one can’t help but lose themselves to a different connection to it all.That’s the musical I hope we’ve made.Where the inner emotional truths of these characters is what we see come to life in song. Drawing inspiration from virtually everywhere, fromWickedandThe Greatest Showman, to Sweeney Todd,Les Mizand more – the inspiration ultimately came fromfinding where the music and the moments in those other films suddenly became something more than just song and dance– and revealed themselves to be the core emotional truth as the compass to it all.”
Juliet & Romeowill be released in theaters in the US on June 18, 2025. Check out our exclusive trailer above and keep checking back throughout the week as we debut exclusive looks at the hottest summer releases.
Juliet & Romeo
Juliet & Romeo is a 2025 reimagining of the classic love story set in 1301, at the end of Medieval times. This film introduces original pop music, transforming Shakespeare’s iconic narrative while revealing historical truths that shape the future of the Empire.
