Romeo-Juliet
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| Romeo-Juliet | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Armando Acosta |
| Produced by | Paul Hespiel (exec. prod.), Andree Castagnee (ass.), Paul Celis (ass.), Greet Ooms (ass.) |
| Written by | Armando Acosta, Koen Van Brabant, Victor Spinetti |
| Starring | John Hurt, Robert Powell, Francesca Annis, Vanessa Redgrave, Ben Kingsley, Maggie Smith, Victor Spinetti, John Haggart |
| Music by | Armando Acosta, Emanuel Verdi |
| Cinematography | Armando Acosta |
| Editing by | Jan Reniers, Armando Acosta |
| Distributed by | Loeb & Loeb |
| Running time | 130 minutes |
| Country | Belgium |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Romeo-Juliet is the title of a 1990 film version of William Shakespeare's classic play Romeo and Juliet. It was made by Italian producer and director Armando Acosta, using the feral cats of Venice, New York, and Ghent as actors, with the voices dubbed by some of the greats of the English theatre. The film was made as a filmed concert. The score of the film included music from Serge Prokofiev's and Emanuel Verdi's music for Romeo and Juliet, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under conductors Barry Wordsworth and Andre Previn.
The story of this film revolves around an eccentric bag lady (played by John Hurt) who takes the cats of Venice and puts them on a boat to set sail for the new world.
The film is described as having been difficult to produce, requiring over 200 hours of footage of the feline cast to assemble the images for the final film. It is also remarkable for being one of the few major releases in which several members of the production team gave up their salaries to produce the film. [1] It has not been re-released for the home video market. This lack of availability, which has been described as making it "more rare than the dinosaur". [2] This lack of availability has made it a sought-after item in some circles.
