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Before Romeo + Juliet became the wild, modern-day Shakespeare remix we still talk about, it nearly spun off in a totally different direction – on rollerblades. Yep, that almost happened. And 21-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio was the one who shut it down before it could crash the whole vibe.
In the mid-90s, Baz Luhrmann had a vision: Shakespeare with a twist. Think guns instead of swords, sleek cars, heavy religious symbolism, and chaotic party scenes. But somewhere in that brainstorm, rollerblades got tossed in. But DiCaprio wasn’t having it.
“At the beginning when we were just starting out, he wanted to make a lot of the characters go around on rollerblades and I quickly said no,” DiCaprio recalled years later (via Cheat Sheet). That call changed everything. Romeo + Juliet might have felt more like a 90s music video than a gritty love story without it.
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Leonardo DiCaprio wasn’t even into the idea initially. Luhrmann had given him the script, but a traditional Shakespeare flick? Hard pass. What changed his mind? A trip to Australia and a workshop that showed him the chaos Luhrmann had in mind – guns, costumes, modern settings. Still, the Django Unchained star wasn’t sure until day one on set, when it finally clicked.
He wasn’t just there to look dreamy in a Hawaiian shirt. DiCaprio dove deep into Romeo’s mindset and brought out the edge in the character. He described Romeo not as a sappy romantic but someone who risked it all, his family, his life, for a woman he barely knew. That darker, impulsive layer? All part of the energy DiCaprio pushed for behind the scenes.
Baz Luhrmann later admitted he hadn’t even heard of DiCaprio when casting began. However, once Leo flew to Australia and helped assemble a video mock-up of the film, it became apparent he was Romeo. Without him, Luhrmann said, the film wouldn’t have happened.
And this wasn’t a one-time thing. Years later, when Luhrmann approached DiCaprio again for The Great Gatsby, it was déjà vu. Same slow process. Same quiet intensity. Because the actor never jumped into roles lightly. And as Luhrmann put it, he had to “wear him down” just to get him back on board.
So yeah, Romeo + Juliet gave us angel wings, choirboys with pistols, and a killer soundtrack, but we have Leonardo DiCaprio to thank for keeping it from turning into a full-blown roller derby. His early instincts helped steer the chaos in the right direction. And the result? A modern tragedy that still hits hard, decades later.
For more such stories, check out Hollywood News
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