WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S
ROMEO & JULIET
Adapted by
Craig Pearce & Baz Luhrmann
Shooting script
October 6, 1995
EXT. HIGHWAY. AFTERNOON.
A ribbon of freeway stretching into a blue and pink late
afternoon sky. A huge dark sedan, windows tinted gold,
headlights blazing, powers directly for us.
CUT TO: A heavy, low-slung, pickup truck traveling toward
the sedan.
WIDE SHOT: Sky, freeway, the cars closing.
TIGHT ON: The sedan.
TIGHT ON: The pickup.
Like thunderous, jousting opponents, the cars pass in a
deafening cacophony of noise.
INT. TRUCK. AFTERNOON.
TIGHT ON: The fat face of GREGORY, yelling at the
disappearing sedan.
GREGORY
A dog of the house of Capulet moves
me!
He and the pimply-faced front-seat passenger, SAMPSON,
explode with laughter.
The red-haired driver BENVOLIO, keeps his eyes on the road.
EXT. EXIT RAMP. AFTERNOON.
The truck spirals down an exit ramp and screeches into busy
driveway of a large gas station.
EXT. GAS STATION. AFTERNOON.
Attendants immediately run to the truck. Two clean
windshields and duco, the third fills the gas tank.
INT. TRUCK. AFTERNOON.
Gregory in the back seat is boasting outrageously.
GREGORY
A dog of that house shall move me
to stand. I will take the wall of
any man or maid of Capulets.
Sampson, sarcastically.
SAMPSON
That shows thee a weak slave. For
the weakest goes to the wall.
GREGORY
'Tis true; and therefore women,
being the weaker vessels, are ever
thrust to the wall. Therefore, I
will push Capulet's men from the
wall, and thrust his maids to the
wall.
Benvolio, disgusted, gets out of the car.
BENVOLIO
The quarrel is between our masters...
GREGORY
(yelling after him)
...and us their men.
EXT. GAS STATION. AFTERNOON.
FOLLOW: Benvolio as he heads for the bathroom.
PICK UP: A mother wrangling three little boys out of a
station wagon - the smallest kid carries a toy pistol.
SUPER FAST SCAN TRACK: Past the mother to - the huge black
sedan pulling up outside the gas station mini-mart.
The front door of the sedan opens. Shiny black boots -
decorated with tiny, silver, cat-shaped spurs - plant
themselves on the ground. The boots are joined by two other
pairs of well-shod feet.
HOLD: The spurred boots move out of frame.
CRANE UP: The other feet belong to a tough-looking Latin
youth ABRA - and his goateed side-kick PETRUCHIO.
Abra and Petruchio enter the mini-mart, as four white-clad
girls exit.
FOLLOW: The girls as they head for their car.
SUPER FAST SCAN TRACK: Past the girls to:
INT. TRUCK. AFTERNOON.
Sampson is trying to out boast Gregory.
SAMPSON
I will show myself a tyrant. When
I have fought with the men I will
be civil with the maids, I will cut
off their heads.
Gregory; mock outrage.
GREGORY
The heads of the maids?
Sampson leers lecherously at the girls.
SAMPSON
Ay, the heads of the maids, or
their maiden heads, take it in what
sense thou wilt.
GREGORY
They must take it in sense that
feel it.
Gregory and Sampson pump up the song on the sound system and
sing out at the girls.
GREGORY/SAMPSON
(SINGING)
I am a pretty piece of flesh!
I am a pretty piece of flesh!
Me, they shall feel while I am able
to stand;
I am a pretty piece of flesh!
The girls, pretending not to notice, get into the car.
EXT. GAS STATION - MINIMART. AFTERNOON.
GREGORY'S P.O.V.: The car pulls away revealing... Abra and
Petruchio exiting the mini-mart.
INT. TRUCK. AFTERNOON.
CLOSE ON: Gregory.
CLOSE ON: Sampson - Their singing abruptly halts.
SAMPSON
Here comes of the House of Capulet.
EXT. GAS STATION. AFTERNOON.
Abra and Petruchio stare coldly toward the boys.
INT. TRUCK. AFTERNOON.
CLOSE ON: Sampson swallowing hard.
CLOSE ON: Gregory; eyes locked to the Capulets. With fake
bravado he nudges Sampson.
GREGORY
Quarrel I will back thee.
CLOSE ON: Sampson trying to quell his rising panic.
SAMPSON
Let us take the law of our sides.
Let them begin.
SUDDENLY: BANG! Gregory and Sampson jump.
WHIP PAN: It was the garage attendant slamming the hood.
Gregory and Sampson are mortally embarrassed.
EXT. MINI-MART. AFTERNOON.
Abra and Petruchio laugh contemptuously and move to their
CAR:
FOLLOW: The mother and kids exiting the mini-mart.
SUPER FAST SCAN TRACK: To...
INT. TRUCK. AFTERNOON.
Sampson furiously tries to save face.
SAMPSON
I will bite my thumb at them; which
is a disgrace to them if they bear
it.
Sampson quickly bites his thumb toward Abra's back as he
gets into the sedan.
INT. SEDAN. AFTERNOON.
Abra's eyes flick to the rear view mirror.
E.C.U.: The rear view mirror; Sampson biting his thumb.
EXT. GAS STATION. AFTERNOON.
Suddenly, a blood curdling screech of tires - the sedan,
rubber burning, reverses full speed toward Sampson and
Gregory.
The mother in the station wagon brakes to avoid collision -
a sports car shunts into her vehicle. Mother and children
scream.
Attendants scatter.
The Capulet car shudders to a halt inches from the truck,
blocking its path.
INT. BLACK SEDAN. AFTERNOON.
CLOSE ON: A scurry of limbs scrabbling across seats and
reaching for door handles;
EXT. GAS STATION. AFTERNOON.
Abra hauls Sampson from the truck. Gregory leaps out,
Petruchio covers him. Abra slams Sampson against the side of
the vehicle - then, goading him to go for his gun, screams:
ABRA
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
Sampson's shaking hand hovers - ready to draw.
SAMPSON
I do bite my thumb, sir.
INT. STATION WAGON. AFTERNOON.
CUT TO: The panicked mother in the station wagon. She
motions her children to the floor.
EXT. GAS STATION. AFTERNOON.
Customers run for cover.
CLOSE ON: Abra: An hysterical rage; he shrieks:
ABRA
Do you bite you thumb at us, sir?
SAMPSON
(sweating, murmurs to Gregory)
Is the law on our side if I say "Ay"?
GREGORY
No.
INT. BATHROOM. AFTERNOON.
CLOSE ON: The black cowboy boots, trousers down around them.
The sound of a toilet flushing.
PAN TO: The next cubicle, the door opens revealing Benvolio.
EXT. GAS STATION. AFTERNOON.
CLOSE ON: Sampson, still sweating.
SAMPSON
No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at
you, sir - but I do bite my thumb,
sir!
CUT TO: Gregory; a ridiculous inquiry.
GREGORY
Do you quarrel, sir?
CUT TO: Abra; a dangerous smile.
ABRA
Quarrel sir, no sir.
CLOSE ON: Sampson; unconvincing bravado...
SAMPSON
But if you do, sir, I am for you. I
serve as good a man as you.
CLOSE ON: Abra; a lethal question.
ABRA
No better?
CLOSE ON: Sampson, trapped.
SAMPSON
Well sir...
INT. STATION WAGON. AFTERNOON.
CUT TO: Inside the station wagon. The mother does not
notice her five year old aiming a toy gun toward the boys.
EXT. GAS STATION. AFTERNOON.
CUT TO: Gregory's P.O.V.: Benvolio emerging from the
bathroom - he whispers maniacally.
GREGORY
Here comes our kinsman. Say better!
EXTREME CLOSE UP: Sampson; he screams:
SAMPSON
YES SIR, BETTER!
EXTREME CLOSE UP: Abra demonically roars:
ABRA
THOU LIEST!
CUT TO: Benvolio. Terror stricken, he sees the boys.
DISTORTED OUT OF CONTROL CLOSE UP: Abra shrieks:
ABRA
DRAW IF YOU BE MEN!
LIGHTNING CUT: Four hands reaching for guns.
SLAM ZOOM: To Benvolio - weapon outstretched he screams:
BENVOLIO
Part, fools! You know not what you
do!
MUSIC STING; A SUPER MARCO SLAM ZOOM along the barrel of
Benvolio's gun; the engraved gun type reads:
'Sword 9mm series S'
CUT TO: Benvolio. He screams in desperation:
BENVOLIO
Put up your swords!
Gregory, Sampson, Abra, and Petruchio freeze. A moment -
then from behind, the unmistakable sound of a gun being
cocked.
EXTREME CLOSE UP: The black cowboy boots.
CRANE UP: To find the dark cold eyes and feline smile, of
the wearer of the boots. His name is TYBALT; a cigarette is
clenched between his teeth and his gun is aimed at Benvolio's
head.
TYBALT
What, art thou drawn amoung these
heartless hinds?
Turn thee Benvolio.
Benvolio, a choked explanation:
BENVOLIO
I do but keep the peace.
A mocking smile.
TYBALT
Peace? I hate the word
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and...
EXTREME CLOSE UP: Tybalt's finger squeezing the trigger...
Suddenly we hear firing from Tybalt's blind side.
Tybalt redirects his weapon, cracking off a single shot at
the surprise attacker.
EXT./INT. MINIMART. AFTERNOON.
It is the five year old from the station wagon. The bullet
smacks the toy gun from the child's hand, shattering the
wagon's window.
Mother and children scream.
EXT. GAS STATION. AFTERNOON.
A panicked Benvolio falls back, accidentally his gun fires -
the bullet whistles past Tybalt's head.
Tybalt combat rolls, and using a screaming car load of girls
as cover, returns two quick shots, narrowly missing Benvolio.
EXT. GAS STATION. AFTERNOON.
The gas station attendant hits a button and heavy metal
screens slam down.
EXT. GAS STATION. AFTERNOON.
CUT TO: Gregory firing - a bullet rips through Abra's arm.
Petruchio dives for cover; Gregory and Sampson leap into
Benvolio's truck. Rubber burns as they smash past the
Capulet vehicle.
CLOSE ON: Tybalt taking aim.
EXT. HIGHWAY - SUPERMARKET. AFTERNOON.
His first shot plugs the fuel tank, the second a tire. Out
of control and spewing gasoline the Montague truck careens
across the highway and through the glass front of a
supermarket.
Gregory and Sampson throw themselves from the truck moments
before...
EXT. SUPERMARKET. AFTERNOON.
CLOSE ON: The gas tank erupts into an almighty fireball.
The screen fills with flame: the following images combust in
front of us:
EXT. HIGHWAY - SUPERMARKET - FROM AIR. AFTERNOON.
NEWS CHOPPER P.O.V.: Citizens run in the streets.
Looters raid shops near the supermarket - security guards
return fire.
INT. RESTAURANT. NIGHT.
A table of dark suited men and their wives.
CLOSE ON: The powerful 60 year old face of FULGENCIO CAPULET.
Seated next to him is his much younger wife GLORIA.
SUDDENLY: Windows explode in a tidal wave of glass. Diners
take cover.
Capulet moves fearlessly toward the window.
CAPULET
(to a waiter)
Give me my long sword!
EXT. STREET. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: The word MONTAGUE fills the screen.
PULL BACK: We see the word is the number plate of a large
black limousine.
The limousine is stuck in the traffic snarl - bullets bounce
off its bullet proof windshield.
INT. MONTAGUE'S LIMOUSINE. NIGHT.
TED MONTAGUE, a 60 year old red-faced bulldog of a man,
bursts from the back of the limousine.
MONTAGUE
What noise is this!
As Ted draws an enormous pearl handed revolver, CAROLINE,
his conservatively dressed wife, tries to restrain him.
CAROLINE
Thou shalt not stir one foot to
seek a foe!
MONTAGUE
(shrugging her off)
Hold me not, let me go!
EXT. STREET. NIGHT.
Crouched behind a truck, Benvolio shakily tries to re-load.
CLOSE ON: The barrel of Tybalt's gun enters frame and
presses into Benvolio's forehead. Tybalt whispers sweetly.
TYBALT
Look upon thy death, Benvolio.
CLOSE ON: Tybalt's finger on the trigger. Benvolio screams
a scream of mortal horror.
SUDDENLY Tybalt is blinded by a burning shaft of light. A
magnificently powerful helicopter gunship hovers above him.
A command booms from the chopper's public address system.
CAPTAIN PRINCE
(over PA)
Rebellious subjects, enemies to
peace,
Throw your mistempered weapons to
the ground.
INT. CHOPPER. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: The steely gray eyes of CAPTAIN PRINCE, chief of
the Verona Beach Police Department. He lifts the microphone
and repeats the command.
CAPTAIN PRINCE
Throw your mistempered weapons to
the ground!
EXT. VERONA BEACH. NIGHT.
Tybalt looks up to the chopper. Patrol cars screech to a
halt.
An almighty orchestral chord.
EXT. VERONA BEACH - MATTE SHOT. NIGHT.
SUPER WIDE SHOT: A trail of devastation winds up through
grid-locked traffic to the burning supermarket.
In the distance looms an enormous statue of Christ flanked
by two glass towers. We push toward the towers. One is
neon-crowned MONTAGUE, the other, CAPULET.
We hear:
VOICE OVER
Two households, both alike in
dignity.
In fair Verona, where we lay our
SCENE
From ancient grudge break to new
mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands
unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these
two foes
A pair of star crossed lovers take
their life.
Whose misadventured piteous
OVERTHROWS
Doth with their death bury their
parents strife.
A dark chord.
EXT. VERONA BEACH SKYLINE. NIGHT.
A swarm of helicopters thunder into frame. We see
compressed, time-lapsed, images of their journey.
SLAM INTO: A coat of arms that labels a large tower - the
emblem reads; "Verona Beach Police Department: In God We
Trust".
HOLD:
INT. CAPTAIN PRINCE'S PRECINCT OFFICE. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: Captain Prince's grim features. He eyes Capulet
and Montague.
CAPTAIN PRINCE
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy
WORD
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturbed the quiet of
our streets.
Capulet's lawyer tries to intervene.
LAWYER
My noble Prince I can...
Captain Prince overriding, slams the desk.
CAPTAIN PRINCE
If ever you disturb our streets
again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of
the peace.
Hold on Captain Prince's determined gaze.
EXT. VERONA STREET. DAWN.
A majestic sunrise; Ted Montague's limousine sulks through
deserted streets. In the distance, Jesus looks out over the
now peaceful city.
INT. MONTAGUE'S LIMOUSINE. DAWN.
Ted Montague, his wife Caroline, and nephew Benvolio ride in
uncomfortable silence.
Caroline finally speaks her anger.
CAROLINE
O where is Romeo? Saw you him
today?
(pointedly to Montague)
Right glad I am he was not at this
fray.
Montague snorts derisively and stares out the window.
Embarrassed, Benvolio tries to be of assistance.
BENVOLIO
Madam, underneath The Grove of
SYCAMORE
So early walking did I see your son.
Ted Montague speaks with contempt.
MONTAGUE
Many a morning hath he there been
SEEN
With tears augmenting the fresh
morning's dew.
Caroline struggles to contain her emotion.
CAROLINE
Away from light steals home my
heavy son
And private in his chamber pens
himself,
Shuts up his windows, locks fair
daylight out
And makes himself an artificial
night.
Montague barks into the car intercom.
MONTAGUE
Westward from this city side.
EXT. STREET. DAWN.
The limousine U-turns heading west.
EXT. BEACH. DAWN.
To the melancholic strains of Mozart's "Serenade for Winds",
we see a blond nineteen year old boy sitting alone on an
empty beach.
CLOSE ON: The boy, ROMEO. Looking out over the ocean he
sucks on the last of a cigarette and then writes intensely
in a small worn note book.
We hear his voice over.
ROMEO (V/O)
Love is a smoke made with the fume
of sighs;
Being purged, a fire sparkling in
lovers' eyes;
Being vexed, a sea nourished with
lovers' tears.
What is it else? A madness most
discreet,
A choking gall and a preserving
sweet.
INT. MONTAGUE'S LIMOUSINE. DAWN.
The limo is parked in a cross street that runs down to the
beach.
Opposite the limo, young diehard clubbers, faded drag queens
and street people, hang outside a dilapidated nightclub. A
broken neon sign reads: "The Grove of Sick Amore."
Ted, Caroline and Benvolio sit watching the silhouette of
Romeo on the beach.
MONTAGUE
Black and portentous must this
humour prove
Unless good counsel may the cause
remove.
EXT. BEACH. DAWN.
P.O.V.: From the limousine. Romeo rises and listlessly
makes his way up the beach - seeing his father's car he
turns and heads for the path that hugs the beach front.
INT. MONTAGUE'S LIMOUSINE. DAWN.
BENVOLIO
So please you step aside.
I'll know his grievance or be much
denied.
Benvolio clambers out of the limo.
CLOSE ON: Montague, an encouraging smile.
MONTAGUE
Come Madam. Let's away.
EXT. STREET. DAWN.
The limousine pulls away and Benvolio heads after Romeo. He
pauses. A deck at the rear of "Sick Amore" sprawls onto the
beach. At the base of the deck, Benvolio can see Romeo
squatting in discussion with an old drunk. Benvolio
approaches with a not very convincing casualness.
BENVOLIO
Good morrow, cousin.
Romeo turns. Sore, red, unfriendly eyes squint back at
Benvolio.
ROMEO
Is the day so young?
BENVOLIO
But new struck, Coz.
Romeo rises, Benvolio follows.
ROMEO
Ay me! Sad hours seem long.
Romeo stops as if taking in Benvolio for the first time.
ROMEO (CONT.)
Was that my father that went hence
so fast?
BENVOLIO
(GUILTY)
It was.
Benvolio chases Romeo down the path which divides the beach
from a string of cheap souvenir shops and sleazy bars.
BENVOLIO
What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?
ROMEO
Not having that which having makes
them short.
BENVOLIO
In love?
ROMEO
Out.
BENVOLIO
Of love?
ROMEO
Out of her favor where I am in love.
BENVOLIO
Alas that love, so gentle in his
view,
Should be so tyrannical and rough
in proof!
ROMEO
Alas that love, whose view...
Romeo is halted by the sight of last night's disturbance
displayed on a small TV screen in an outdoor bar.
ROMEO (CONT.)
What fray was here?
Benvolio starts to reply.
ROMEO (CONT.)
(ANGRILY)
Yet tell me not, for I have heard
it all.
Here's much to do with hate, but
more with love.
Romeo turns the corner away from the beach. He strides
along the sidewalk raging.
ROMEO (CONT.)
Why then, O brawling love, O loving
hate,
O anything, of nothing first
create!
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming
forms,
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold
fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep, that is not
what it is!
Romeo screams at a huge bouncer who lounges in the doorway
of a sex club.
ROMEO (CONT.)
This love feel I, that feel no love
in this!
The bouncer's hand moves to his gun. Romeo, ignoring him,
turns on Benvolio. A mocking laughter through tears:
ROMEO (CONT.)
Dost thou not laugh?
Benvolio, nervously eyeing the bouncer, shepherds Romeo out
of danger.
BENVOLIO
No, coz, I rather weep.
Romeo smiles.
ROMEO
Farewell, my coz.
Romeo, breaking into a jog, leaves Benvolio behind. Benvolio
pursues him down the street.
EXT. ROMEO'S CAR. DAY.
CLOSE ON: The sleeping face of a fourteen year old boy -
BALTHASAR.
PULL BACK: Balthasar sleeps on the hood of a magnificent
silver car.
Three or four kids doze on the sidewalk. As Romeo
approaches, they jump up and begin vigorously polishing the
already gleaming car.
Balthasar wakes. He springs off the hood, chases the kids
away, then, producing a huge bunch of keys, opens the car
door for Romeo.
Benvolio intercepts Romeo at the car.
BENVOLIO
Tell me in sadness, who is it that
you love.
ROMEO
In sadness, cousin, I do love...a
woman.
BENVOLIO
I aimed so near when I supposed you
loved.
Romeo leans against the car.
ROMEO
A right good marksman; and she's
fair I love.
Romeo pulls his shirt down to reveal a small shoulder tattoo.
CLOSE ON: The tattooed word; ROSALINE.
BENVOLIO
Rosaline!
(he is impressed)
A right fair mark, fair coz, is
soonest hit.
ROMEO
She'll not be hit with Cupid's
arrow.
She hath Dian's wit,
And in strong proof of chastity
lives well armed.
Benvolio can't believe it.
BENVOLIO
Then she hath sworn that she will
still live chaste?
ROMEO
She hath; and in that sparing makes
huge waste.
Benvolio - a plan.
BENVOLIO
Be ruled by me; forget to think of
her.
ROMEO
O, teach me how I should forget to
think!
Benvolio indicates one of the working girls already strutting
the foot path.
BENVOLIO
By giving liberty unto thine eyes.
Examine other beauties.
Romeo laughs dismissively. He throws the kids a few coins
and slides into the drivers seat. Balthasar jumps in back.
ROMEO
Farewell. Thou canst not teach me
to forget.
BENVOLIO
I'll pay that doctrine, or else die
in debt.
Benvolio leaps into the passenger seat of the moving vehicle.
INT. CAPULET OFFICE. DAY.
An orchestral fanfare. TRACK DOWN: Past monstrous letters
that read CAPULET and in through a window to discover
Fulgencio Capulet. He stares out the window toward the
other tallest building in Verona; the one crested with the
word MONTAGUE.
CAPULET
But Montague is bound as well as I,
In penalty alike;
Capulet turns: on the other side of his desk sits DAVID
PARIS; a square-jawed young man in a red cashmere sweater.
Tea has been served from an exquisite silver tea service.
CAPULET (CONT.)
And 'tis not hard, I think, for me
so old as we to keep the peace.
Dave smiles obligingly.
DAVE
Of honorable reckoning are you
both,
And pity 'tis you lived at odds so
long.
An awkward pause: Dave sips tea, then, with a deep breath...
DAVE (CONT.)
But now, my lord, what say you to
my suit?
Capulet considers the framed photograph on his desk.
CAPULET
But saying o'er what I have said
BEFORE;
My child is yet a stranger in the
WORLD;
Let two more summers wither in
their pride,
Ere we may think her ripe to be a
bride.
Dave is politely insistent.
DAVE
Younger than she are happy mothers
made.
CAPULET
(checking him hard)
And too soon marred are those so
early made.
Earth hath swallowed all my hopes
but she;
She is the hopeful lady of my earth.
Capulet rounds the desk and places a fatherly hand on Dave's
shoulder.
CAPULET (CONT.)
But woo her, gentle Paris, get her
heart.
My will to her consent is but a
part,
And she agreed, within her scope of
CHOICE
Lies my consent and fair according
voice.
This night I hold an old Accustomed
feast.
Capulet leans close.
CAPULET (CONT.)
At my poor house, look to behold
this night,
Fresh female buds that make dark
heaven light.
Hear all; all see,
And like her most whose merit most
shall be.
Capulet smiles knowingly. Dave seems encouraged.
CAPULET (CONT.)
(a hearty slap)
Come go with me!
Capulet excitedly ushers Dave from the office.
INT. POOL HALL. DAY.
Dim, smoke filled. Benvolio and Romeo play pool.
BENVOLIO
(chalking his cue)
Take thou some new infection to thy
eye.
He lines up the six ball top pocket.
BENVOLIO (CONT.)
And the rank poison of the old will
die.
A hopeless shot that slams the eight ball toward the side
pocket. Romeo stops it with his hand and hurls it against
the other balls.
BENVOLIO
Why, Romeo, art thou mad?
Romeo sinks the other balls with his hands.
ROMEO
Not mad, but bound more than a
madman is;
Shut up in prison, kept without my
food,
Romeo stalks away from the table.
ROMEO (CONT.)
Whipped and tormented.
He stops at the gun check, rummaging in his pocket.
ROMEO
Good day, good fellow.
A crusty old man looks up from the small television. His
entire face a tattooed shooting target, the bullseye between
his eyes.
The old man points to the sign that reads: "No ticket no
gun." Romeo finally produces a ticket. Crusty the Target
goes out back. Romeo's attention is caught by the television.
INT. T.V. STUDIO SET. DAY
CUT TO: TELEVISION.
An ostentatious woman and her over groomed partner Rich,
hosts what looks to be a kind of Entertainment Tonight show.
The graphic behind them reads "Solemnity Nights" with Susan
Santandiago and Rich Ranchidis.
Susan speaks conspiratorially to camera.
SUSAN
Now I'll tell you without asking.
The great
Rich Capulet, holds an old
accustomed feast;
Rich chimes in:
RICH
A fair Assembly.
SUSAN
I Pray you sir can you read?
A list of names begins to scroll across the screen. Rich
reads them off.
RICH
Signor Placentio and his wife and
daughters,
Signor Martino, the Lady Widow
Of Utruvio and her lovely nieces,
Rosaline and Livia...
INT. POOL HALL. DAY.
CUT TO: Benvolio, he leans into Romeo.
BENVOLIO
At this same ancient feast of
CAPULET'S
Sups the fair Rosaline; whom thou
so loves,
With all the admired beauties of
Verona.
Go thither, and with unattained eye
Compare her face with some that I
shall show,
And I will make thee think thy swan
a crow.
ROMEO
One fairer than my love?
Crusty returns. He hands the boys their guns.
ROMEO (CONT.)
The all-seeing sun Ne'er saw her
match since first the world begun.
CUT TO: TELEVISION.
SUSAN
If you be not of the house of
Montagues,
Come and crush a cup of wine!
RICH
Rest you merry!
CUT TO: Romeo, he considers.
ROMEO
I'll go along, no such sight to be
shown.
But to rejoice in splendour of mine
own.
The boys move off.
PUSH IN ON: THE TELEVISION.
EXT. CAPULET STATE. DAY.
An aerial shot of a magnificent island estate. An Italianate
wonder of Florentine architecture. Armed guards patrol the
grounds. The telecaption reads "Capulet Mansion."
The file tape loses its television quality. We sweep down
through manicured gardens, where workers prepare decorations
for tonight's celebrations, and into the house. The music
darkens and we hear the desperate calling of a girl's name.
VOICE OVER
J U L I E T !
INT. CAPULET MANSION - CORRIDOR. DAY.
CUT TO: A long deserted corridor.
VOICE OVER
J U L I E T !
INT. CAPULET MANSION - DRAWING ROOM. DAY.
CUT TO: An echoey Chinoiserie style drawing room.
VOICE OVER
J U L I E T !
INT. BATHROOM. DAY.
CLOSE ON: The still, serene, submerged features of a
beautiful young girl. Dark floating hair gently frames the
face. Heavy liquid eyes stare up through the water.
We hear, though faintly, the calling:
VOICE OVER
J U L I E T !
With a rush JULIET surfaces. As she gulps air, we realise
that she is in fact, in a bath.
We hear the calling loudly again.
VOICE OVER
J U L I E T !
Juliet listens. For a moment she is very still, then she
closes her eyes and slides back beneath the surface of the
water.
INT. ENTRANCE HALL CAPULET MANSION. DAY.
A Gothic, unfriendly environment heavy with religious
iconography. The entrance hall is crowded with workers and
servants preparing for tonight's party.
Gloria Capulet fiddles with a short black wig in the hallway
mirror. She is attired in full Cleopatra costume.
Dissatisfied with the wig, she rips it from her head and
calls maniacally.
GLORIA
J U L I E T !
Gloria is met by the NURSE, a fat, grandmotherly Hispanic
woman.
GLORIA (CONT.)
Nurse, where's my daughter? Call
her forth to me.
NURSE
I bade her come. God forbid!
Where's this girl?
Juliet!
CUT TO: The top of the stairs. As if from nowhere, Juliet
has appeared. She wears a bathrobe and her hair is wet.
JULIET
(COOLLY)
Madam, I am here. What is you will.
Gloria, startled, sweeps up the stairs and shuffles her
daughter toward a doorway.
GLORIA
Nurse, give leave awhile, we must
talk in secret.
INT. GLORIA'S DRESSING ROOM. DAY.
Gloria shepherds Juliet into her opulent dressing room and
closes the door. She circles with nervous vexation searching
for words, stops, then suddenly opens the door and yells out
to the Nurse.
GLORIA (CONT.)
Nurse, come back again.
I have remembered me, thou's hear
our counsel.
The Nurse enters. Gloria, still refusing eye contact,
checks her appearance once more in the mirror. She takes a
hairbrush and, feigning pleasantness, intensely brushes her
hair.
GLORIA (CONT.)
Nurse, thou knowest my daughter's
of a pretty age.
NURSE
(to Juliet)
Thou wast the prettiest babe that
e'er I nursed.
The hair brush clatters onto the dresser. A moment of tense
silence. Gloria grips herself and pours a sherry.
Back still turned, she speaks to her daughter.
GLORIA
By my count, I was your mother much
upon these years
That you are now a maid.
A nembutal twists like a pin in the corner of Gloria's mouth.
She slugs it down with the sherry and turns abruptly to face
Juliet.
GLORIA (CONT.)
Thus then in brief, the valiant
Paris seeks you for his love.
CUT TO: Juliet; an uncomprehending stare.
The Nurse, caught off guard, tries to buoy the situation.
NURSE
A man, young lady! Lady, such a
MAN
As all the world - why, he's a man
of wax.
The medication takes immediate effect upon Gloria. She
joins Juliet on the couch and coos in Paris's favour.
GLORIA
Verona's summer hath not such a
flower.
NURSE
Nay, he's a flower; in faith, a
very flower.
GLORIA
This night you shall behold him at
our feast;
Read o'er the volume of young
Paris' face
And find delight writ there with
beauty's pen.
This precious book of love, this
unbound lover,
To beautify him only lacks a cover.
So shall you share all that he doth
possess,
By having him, making yourself no
less.
Gloria probes Juliet's thoughts.
GLORIA
Can you like of Paris' love?
Juliet, adept at negotiating her mother's strange moods,
chooses her words precisely.
JULIET
I'll look to like, if looking
liking move,
But no more deep will I endart mine
eye,
Than your consent gives strength to
make it fly.
PETER the chauffeur enters.
PETER
Madam. The guests are come.
GLORIA
(checks the mirror)
We follow thee.
She exits, Nurse in tow.
CLOSE ON: Juliet stares out the windows and across the water.
Suddenly the Nurse's face leers into shot. She whispers
enthusiastically into Juliet's ear.
NURSE
Go girl, seek happy nights to happy
days.
CLOSE ON: Juliet's face.
EXT. CAPULET MANSION. DAY/NIGHT.
JUMP CUT: Aerial shot of Capulet Mansion. We time lapse
from late afternoon to night; fairy lights illuminate,
guests appear, music swells, and a single incandescent
flare, explodes pink against the inky sky.
EXT. BEACH. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: Romeo: his face glows pink. He is sitting on the
grubby shoreline of Verona Bay dressed as a boy King Arthur,
with fake chain mail and sword.
Romeo watches the dying flare sink into the bay. The sound
of the party drifts across the water. Balthasar, dressed as
Frankenstein's monster, touches a lighter to a large bong
and Romeo inhales smoke.
Behind them, Benvolio, drunk and dressed as a pizza, is
yelling at Gregory, who, dressed as a Viking, is trying to
cut slices off his pizza costume. Sampson, also dressed as
a Viking, sits in the back of a car. One arm is bandaged
and he swigs from a bottle.
Suddenly the darkness is slashed by headlights. A reckless
sports car speeds toward the boys. Stereo screaming, the
car skids to a halt.
CLOSE ON: Music blares from the sound system. A silver
stilettoed foot emerges from the car and plants itself
firmly in the dirt.
CUT TO: The boys, eyes wide with amazement.
CUT TO: Another stiletto follows the first. Guitar groans.
PAN: Slowly up a shapely pair of black stockinged legs, past
a hint of garter belt to a black sequined mini-skirt and up
over a muscular dark skinned stomach and tiny sequined bra
top, to discover: the 21 year old male, African American
face of MERCUTIO.
CUT TO: The boys. Recovering from the initial shock, they
laugh and cat-call raucously.
CUT TO: Mercutio. He roughly jams a short black wig onto
his head and yells above the music.
MERCUTIO
Strike drum!
Mercutio magically produces invitations from somewhere
within his mini-skirt and dances down the beach to the boys.
Aggressively bumping and grinding, Mercutio distributes the
invitations. Reaching Romeo, he declares:
MERCUTIO
We'll on without apology.
Romeo lets the invitation fall to the sand.
ROMEO
I am not for this ambling.
Being but heavy, I will bear the
light.
Romeo pulls on the bong once more.
Suddenly, Mercutio is upon Romeo. Hauling him to his feet,
he waltzes him through the sand.
MERCUTIO
Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you
dance.
Romeo pushes Mercutio away.
ROMEO
Not I, believe me. You have
dancing shoes
With nimble soles. I have a soul
of lead.
Mercutio in mock sympathy.
MERCUTIO
Too great oppression for a tender
thing.
ROMEO
Is love a tender thing? It is too
rough, too rude, too boisterous,
and it pricks like thorn.
Romeo lies staring up at the stars.
MERCUTIO
If love be rough with you, be rough
with love.
Mercutio jumps on Romeo.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
Prick love for pricking, and you
beat love down.
Romeo fights Mercutio off.
ROMEO
Under love's heavy burden do I sink!
CUT TO: Benvolio, impatiently honking the horn.
BENVOLIO
Every man betake him to his legs!
Mercutio heads Romeo toward the car.
MERCUTIO
Come, we burn daylight, ho!
Romeo pulls away.
ROMEO
But 'tis no wit to go.
Mercutio turns, exasperated.
MERCUTIO
Why, may one ask?
ROMEO
I dreamt a dream tonight.
MERCUTIO
And so did I.
ROMEO
Well, what was yours?
MERCUTIO
That dreamers often lie.
ROMEO
In bed asleep, while they do dream
things true.
Mercutio produces a tiny gold pill case.
MERCUTIO
O, then I see Queen Mab hath been
with you.
She is the fairies' midwife, and
she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate
STONE
On the forefinger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Over men's noses as they lie asleep.
Tantalisingly, he passes the case beneath Romeo's nose.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
Her chariot is an empty hazelnut,
Her wagoner a small gray-coated gnat.
With a conjurer's dexterity Mercutio extracts a small, gray
pill.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
And in this state she gallops night
by night
Through lovers' brains, and then
they dream of love;
He palms the pills. It reappears from behind Romeo's ear.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
O'er lawyers' fingers who straight
dream on fees;
O'er ladies' lips, who straight on
kisses dream,
Which oft the angry Mab with
blisters plagues.
Because their breaths with
sweetmeats tainted are.
The pill box glints in the moonlight.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
Sometime she driveth o'er a
soldier's neck;
And then dreams he of cutting
foreign throats.
And being thus frighted, swears a
prayer or two
And sleeps again.
Mercutio now intensely angry:
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
This is that very Mab
That plaits the manes of horses in
the night
And bakes the elf-locks in foul
sluttish hairs
He screams into the night.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
This is the hag, when maids lie on
their backs,
That presses them and learns them
first to bear,
Making them women of good carriage.
This is she, this is she...
CLOSE ON: Mercutio. He breaks off. There is a strange
stillness amongst the group. Romeo goes to his friend.
ROMEO
Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace.
Thou talkest of nothing.
Mercutio meets Romeo's gaze.
MERCUTIO
True, I talk of dreams;
Which are the children of an idle
brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy.
Which is as thin of substance as
the air
And more inconstant than the wind,
who woos
Even now the frozen bosom of the
NORTH
And, being angered, puffs away from
THENCE
Turning his attention to the dew-
dropping south.
CUT TO: Benvolio in the car. The alcohol has caught up with
him and he looks a little queasy.
BENVOLIO
This wind you talk of blows us from
OURSELVES:
Supper is done and we shall come
too late.
Romeo looks toward the distant city.
ROMEO
I fear, too early, for my mind
MISGIVES
Some consequence yet hanging in the
STARS
Shall bitterly begin his fearful
DATE
With this night's revels, and
expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my
breast,
By some vile forfeit of untimely
death.
PAUSE: The water turns golden as fireworks explode across
the bay. Romeo smiles.
ROMEO (CONT.)
But he that hath the steerage of my
COURSE
Direct my sail!
He takes the pill and drops it into his mouth.
ROMEO (CONT.)
On, lusty gentlemen!
With the rush of a mind altering cocktail, we ZOOM IN on
Romeo's eyes; they shimmer with the shooting star reflection
of exploding fireworks - a bending Eastern chord, we launch
into Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love', sung by the vocalist from
Soundgarden with orchestration by 'Deconstruction' and sitar
by Ravi Shankar.
EXT. MERCUTIO'S CAR - ON FREEWAY. NIGHT.
PULL OUT: From Romeo's eyes. He is lying in the passenger
seat of Mercutio's convertible as it rockets along the
freeway. The camera is directly above Romeo. He stares up
at the fireworks that reflect in the windshield. The car
and freeway begin to rotate and the camera follows. We feel
that the car is now travelling upside-down. The camera
sways through a brilliant explosion of fireworks that fill
the screen with a zillion pixilating, colored dots of fire.
INT. CAPULET'S MANSION - BALLROOM. NIGHT.
PULL OUT: To discover the glittering dots of fire refracting
from the sparkling domed roof of the magnificently ornate
Capulet Ballroom. The camera swoops down over bizarrely
costumed revellers cavorting to a driving Latin big band.
The camera partners with a drugged Mercutio and Benvolio who
shamelessly caper with each other in a mock antic adagio.
CUT TO: Romeo gazing blankly at the dance floor.
CUT TO: Mercutio. He sweeps up a thirty-something
sophisticate and twirls her in Romeo's direction.
MERCUTIO
Everyman betake him to his legs!
Romeo moves off through the crowd.
CUT TO: ROMEO'S P.O.V.: Contorted images of costumed guests
eat, drink and laugh in a grotesque collision of Yves Saint
Laurent cocktail party and Bacchanalian romp.
Suddenly a large arm coils around Romeo's neck.
DISTORTED EXTREME CLOSE UP: A seriously intoxicated Fulgencio
Capulet; his puffy red face squeezes against Romeo's.
CAPULET
Ah, I have seen the day that I
COULD
Tell a whispering tale in a fair
ladies ear.
Such as would please.
Capulet screams above the music:
CAPULET (CONT.)
Come musicians play!
Blood drums in Romeo's ears. Breaking free from Capulet's
grasp as he pushes through the crowd toward the bathroom.
INT. BATHROOM. NIGHT.
Silent, underwater shot. Romeo's tranquil features submerged
in a basin of water.
BEAT.
With a gasp, Romeo rises. A moment. His breathing calms.
Then, smoothing water into his hair, he gazes into the
bathroom mirror. He turns:
The entire wall opposite the mirror, is a magnificent salt-
water fish tank.
Romeo, drawn by it's submarine beauty, leans against the
fish tank. Applause echoes faintly through the bathroom
speakers.
INT. BALLROOM. NIGHT.
As the applause dies, a dark-haired Latina Diva takes the
spotlight. The band ease into the opening bars of a love
ballad.
INT. BATHROOM. NIGHT.
As the music swells, Romeo watches a moustached catfish
glide past a medieval castle.
Suddenly, Romeo pulls away. Peering back at him through the
castle is a pair of exquisitely beautiful angelic eyes.
The Diva's first pure, achingly beautiful notes soar.
Confused, Romeo looks again. There is no mistake - it is a
girl. Through a shimmering curtain of ribbon weed, two dark
wide eyes, a childish nose and sumptuous full lips.
Romeo pushes his face closer to the glass. The other face
snaps abruptly away.
INT. POWDER ROOM. NIGHT.
CUT TO: Juliet, dressed as an angel, on the other side of
the tank. We now realise that the girls' powder room and
the boys' bathroom are divided by this watery wonder world.
Juliet warily moves closer to the glass.
INT. BATHROOM. NIGHT.
Romeo leans his face against the glass. The love ballad
builds.
SLOW TRACK: From Romeo's profile, in through the water, and...
INT. POWDER ROOM. NIGHT.
...out the other side, to find Juliet in profile, peering
into the tank.
INT. BATHROOM. NIGHT.
Romeo presses his nose lightly against the glass.
INT. POWDER ROOM. NIGHT.
Juliet; a tiny smile.
Suddenly, CRASH! The door slams open. Juliet turns,
startled. It is the Nurse.
NURSE
Juliet, your mother calls.
The Nurse bustles Juliet out the door. Juliet looks over
her shoulder at the mystery boy.
INT. BALLROOM. NIGHT.
Romeo, now without his mask, slams out of the bathroom -
Juliet and the Nurse have disappeared into the crowd.
CUT TO: Juliet being dragged along by the Nurse. She
glances back toward the mystery boy, but he is gone.
Juliet and the Nurse rejoin Dave Paris, who is dressed as an
astronaut, and Gloria, at the side of the dance floor.
Dave, irresistible smile, extends his hand to Juliet.
DAVE
Will you now deny to dance?
Juliet looks to Dave, desperately searching for a reason to
decline. Gloria, brushing aside her silly daughter's
protests, slugs the last of her champagne and corrals them
onto the dance floor.
GLORIA
(whispering to Juliet)
A man, young lady, such a man.
As Juliet is dragged onto the floor her eyes furtively
search for the boy.
CUT TO: Romeo in the crowd. Desperate to find the girl, he
roughly shunts aside a reveller dressed as Lucifer, Prince
of Darkness.
HOLD ON: Lucifer. He removes his mask: it is Tybalt. He
turns to Abra, who's dressed as a demon.
TYBALT
What, dares the slave come hither
to fleer and scorn at our solemnity?
Now by the stock and honor of my
KIN
To strike him dead I hold it not a
sin.
Tybalt moves off aggressively, but is halted as Capulet
slams a hand into his chest.
CAPULET
Why how now kinsman, wherefore
storm you so?
TYBALT
Uncle, this is that villain Romeo.
A Montague, our foe.
Capulet peers across the ballroom.
CAPULET
Young Romeo is it?
TYBALT
'Tis he.
CAPULET
Content thee gentle coz, let him
alone.
I would not for the wealth of all
this town
Here in my house do him
disparagement.
Therefore be patient; take no note
of him.
Tybalt can't believe it.
TYBALT
I'll not endure him.
CLOSE ON: Capulet, exploding with rage.
CAPULET
He shall be endured!
(slapping Tybalt viciously)
What, goodman boy! I say he shall!
Go to.
Capulet violently shoves Tybalt to the ground.
CAPULET
You'll make a mutiny among my guests!
A middle aged couple look on shocked - Capulet waves to them
FESTIVELY:
CAPULET
What? Cheerly my hearts!
Capulet snorts at Tybalt in disgust.
CAPULET
You'll not endure him! Am I the
master here or you? Go to.
Smoothing his hair into place, Capulet turns back into the
ballroom.
CLOSE ON: Tybalt choking back tears of rage.
CUT TO: Romeo moving through the crowd. For a moment the
crush clears and he spies the Angel on the dance floor.
CLOSE ON: Romeo whispers:
ROMEO
Did my heart love till now?
Forswear it, sight.
For I ne'er saw true beauty till
this night.
Romeo begins to circumnavigate the dance floor in an attempt
to get closer to Juliet.
CUT TO: Dave slow dancing with Juliet.
Juliet's eyes search the room for the boy.
CLOSE ON: Romeo.
CLOSE ON: Juliet.
Their eyes connect.
Juliet looks quickly back to Dave who, oblivious, returns
his most devastating smile.
CUT TO: The songstress, her voice soars.
CUT TO: Juliet. Unable to look away from the boy, she
stares over Dave's shoulder.
CUT TO: Romeo. Ignoring the danger, he continues to move
toward the Angel.
With the Diva's spiralling final notes, the ballad concludes.
A complete black out. As the crowd break into wild applause,
Juliet's eyes search the darkness, but the boy is gone.
The crowd cheers and screams its applause. An avalanche of
balloons, tinsel and confetti rains down from the roof;
swathes of red silk drop from the ceiling and the space is
transformed.
CLOSE ON: Juliet, searching for the boy.
Suddenly: A gasp, Juliet's eyes widen, shocked.
In the dark, a hand has shot out from the drape curtaining
off the stage and clasped hers. Juliet barely dares breathe.
She glances furtively to Dave Paris - he watches the stage.
Slowly Juliet turns toward the hand; there through a break
in the curtain she can see eye, cheek and lips of the
mystery boy. As the Diva reprises the chorus, Romeo gently
pulls Juliet behind the curtain.
INT. BEHIND CURTAIN. NIGHT.
Concealed from the party by the red velvet drape, hands
still clasped, the teenagers are so close their bodies
almost touch.
ROMEO
If I profane with my unworthiest
HAND
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is
this.
My lips, two blushing pilgrims,
ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a
tender kiss.
Romeo moves his lips toward Juliet's. She stops him.
JULIET
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your
hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in
this.
For saints have hands that pilgrim's
hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers'
kiss.
ROMEO
Have not saints lips, and holy
palmers too?
JULIET
(a gentle scolding)
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must
use in prayer.
ROMEO
O, then, dear saint, let lips do
what hands do,
They pray: grant thou, lest faith
turn to despair.
JULIET
Saints do not move, though grant
for prayer's sake.
ROMEO
Then move not while my prayer's
effect I take.
He kisses her.
ROMEO (CONT.)
Thus from my lips, by thine my sin
is purged.
JULIET
Then have my lips the sin that they
have took.
ROMEO
Sin from my lips? O trespass
sweetly urged!
Give me my sin again.
He kisses her.
JULIET
You kiss by th' book.
They kiss again.
Suddenly a harsh light falls across the entwined couple.
They break apart - Nurse has pulled open the curtain and
stands eyeing them severely.
NURSE
Madam, your mother craves a word
with you.
We see that the party is breaking up. But for groups of
die-hard revellers, the room is nearly empty.
NURSE (CONT.)
Come, let's away.
She takes firm control of her charge.
Juliet furtively motions for the startled Romeo not to
follow as he trails them across the room.
CUT TO: ROMEO'S P.O.V.: The Nurse and Juliet reach the door,
but instead of leaving, they turn and ascend the staircase
that arcs around to the mezzanine level. They join a vexed
Gloria Capulet who clings to a patient Dave Paris.
Inaudible words are exchanged. Juliet flickers her eyes
nervously to Romeo.
CUT TO: Romeo. He halts at the foot of the stairs unsure.
CUT TO: Gloria. Catching Juliet's interest in the boy, she
indicates to her daughter to 'COME ALONG'.
CUT TO: Romeo; a dawning realisation.
ROMEO
(under his breath)
Is she a Capulet?
CUT TO: Juliet. She stops and turns back.
CUT TO: Romeo, comprehending the reality of who she is.
CUT TO: Juliet. The Nurse whispers in her ear.
NURSE
His name is Romeo, and a Montague,
The only son of your great enemy.
An orchestral treatment of Joy Division's "Love will tear us
Apart" swells;
HOLD ON: Juliet. Like a cloud passing across the sun, a
dark coldness descends upon her.
CUT TO: Mercutio. He throws himself upon the shell shocked
Romeo.
MERCUTIO
Away, begone, the sport is at its
best.
Mercutio shuttles Romeo toward the door.
ROMEO
Ay so I fear,
A covert glance over his shoulder.
ROMEO (CONT.)
The more is my unrest.
EXT. CAPULET MANSION. NIGHT.
Mercutio bundles Romeo through the front door and down the
stairs to the waiting getaway car.
INT. CAPULET MANSION - STAIRS ALCOVE WINDOW - NIGHT.
CUT TO: Juliet. Manoeuvred by the Nurse up the stairs, she
breaks away and rushes to a tiny, windowed alcove.
EXT. CAPULET MANSION - MAIN ENTRANCE. NIGHT.
CUT TO: Mercutio's convertible and its noisy confederacy
joining the line of departing limos.
A huge sign combusts into blinding fireworks that write in
giant words "CAPULET."
As the convertible passes beneath the blazing words, Romeo
turns. Through a deluge of falling sparks, he glimpses the
mystery girl high up in the tower.
EXT. CAPULET MANSION - WINDOW. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: Juliet leaning out of the tower window. Brilliant
sparkles light in her eyes.
PUSH IN: We hear her secret whisper:
JULIET
My only love, sprung from my only
hate.
Too early seen unknown, and known
too late.
Prodigious birth of love it is to me
EXT. CAPULET MANSION - MAIN ENTRANCE DRIVE. NIGHT.
CUT TO: JULIET'S P.O.V.: In slow motion Romeo, through the
falling curtain of fiery embers.
JULIET (CONT.)(V/O)
That I must love a loathed enemy.
EXT. CAPULET MANSION - WINDOW. NIGHT.
Warm wind blows the smoke from the expended fireworks.
Juliet closes the window and leans against the glass.
CRANE DOWN: The side of the building past revellers who
don't know when to leave. Standing in the front doorway is
someone else who cannot take their eyes off the departing
Romeo. It is Tybalt. The music darkens as we push through
the smoky wind.
TYBALT
I will withdraw. But this intrusion
shall,
Now seeming sweet, convert to
bitterest gall.
INT. MERCUTIO'S CAR. NIGHT.
Caught in the jam of departing vehicles, Mercutio's car
crawls along the bridge that links Capulet island with the
mainland. The boys sing along raucously with the radio.
BOYS
"I am a pretty piece of flesh,
I am a pretty piece of flesh..."
PUSH IN: On Romeo, he whispers:
ROMEO
Can I go forward when my heart is
here?
Turn back, dull earth, and find thy
centre out.
Romeo leaps from the car. Benvolio yells after him.
BENVOLIO
Romeo! Cousin Romeo! Romeo!
EXT. CAPULET BRIDGE. NIGHT.
Romeo runs back along the bridge toward the estate. At the
gates, armed guards supervise the exodus of vehicles. Romeo
uses the traffic to shield himself from view.
Romeo leaps from the bridge and into the shadows at the base
of the high stone wall that borders the compound.
EXT. CAPULET BRIDGE. NIGHT.
Mercutio's car prowls back along the bridge. The last
guests have departed and the gates are swinging shut. The
convertible halts in front of them.
BENVOLIO
He ran this way. Call, good
Mercutio.
MERCUTIO
Nay, I'll conjure too.
Mercutio leaps from the car. He postures like a magician in
a low-budget variety special. The boys cheer him on.
MERCUTIO
Romeo! Humours! Madman! Passion!
Lover!
I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright
eyes,
By her high forehead and her
scarlet lip,
By her fine foot, straight leg, and
quivering thigh.
And the demesnes that there adjacent
lie,
That in thy likeness thou appear to
us!
EXT. CAPULET WALL. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: Romeo's fake chain mail shirt tangled in the
barbed wire at the top of the wall.
PAN DOWN: Romeo, now on the other side of the wall, pulls up
his undershirt and gingerly inspects the cuts inflicted by
the wire.
Mercutio's cavorting echoes from the bridge. Romeo smiles
ironically.
ROMEO
He jests at scars that never felt a
wound.
Romeo moves off through the darkened grounds of Capulet
estate.
EXT. CAPULET BRIDGE. NIGHT.
The boys laugh hysterically as Mercutio staggers around the
bridge in imitation of a love sick fool.
MERCUTIO
O Romeo, that she were, O that she
WERE
An open-arse and thou a poperin pear!
The hilarity is abruptly arrested as a security spotlight
blazes to life, pinning Mercutio in its beam. The sound of
automatic weapons cocking pierces the night.
CLOSE ON: Mercutio. He's brave but not stupid. He gets
back into the car.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
Come, shall we go?
EXT. THE BACK OF CAPULET MANSION. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: A pair of stone cherubs on top of the retaining
wall of a terraced garden. Romeo's face appears between them.
Romeo hauls himself up onto the wall. Below is a Greco-
Roman style pool area. To the right the darkened rear wing
of Capulet Mansion. Suddenly the back of the house explodes
with light. Romeo takes cover.
ROMEO
But soft, what light through yonder
window breaks?
Romeo's question is answered as out onto the verandah comes
Juliet. She is still clad in her angel robe, but without
the halo and wings. She slowly descends to pool level.
ROMEO
It is the East, and Juliet is the
sun!
Arise, fair sun, and kill the
envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with
GRIEF
That thou her maid art far more
fair than she.
Be not her maid, since she is
envious.
Her vestal livery is but sick and
green,
And none but fools do wear it.
Juliet stands on the top step of the pool stairs. She is
directly below Romeo as he whispers.
ROMEO (CONT.)
Cast it off!
Juliet sits on the edge of the pool, her legs dangle in the
water.
ROMEO (CONT.)
It is my lady. O, it is my love!
O that she knew she were!
Juliet sighs.
JULIET
Ay me!
ROMEO
(WHISPERS)
She speaks.
O, speak again, bright angel!
Juliet looks longingly toward the stars.
JULIET
O Romeo, Romeo! - Whyfore art thou
Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy
name.
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn
my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
CLOSE ON: Romeo. Incredulous.
ROMEO
Shall I hear more, or shall I speak
at this?
JULIET
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy.
Thou are thyself, though not a
Montague.
What's Montague? It is not hand
nor foot
Nor arm nor face nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some
other name!
What's in a name?
That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as
sweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo
called,
Retain that dear perfection which
he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff
thy name,
And for thy name, which is no part
of thee,
Take all myself.
Romeo wildly calls:
ROMEO
I take thee at thy word!
Call me but love, and I'll be new
baptised.
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.
Romeo jumps down from the wall. Juliet screams, and turns,
toppling backwards. Romeo grabs her hand but her momentum
overbalances him and they both plunge headlong into the pool.
EXT. CAPULET MANSION - POOL - UNDERWATER. NIGHT.
Underwater shot: A slow motion phosphorescent tangle of
arms, legs and bodies.
EXT. CAPULET MANSION - BACK GARDEN. NIGHT.
CUT TO: A security guard. Alerted by the noise he moves
toward the pool area.
EXT. CAPULET MANSION - POOL GARDEN - NIGHT.
CUT TO: Above water, real time: Romeo and Juliet surface
spluttering. Juliet thrashes the water in an attempt to get
distance from her attacker.
JULIET
What man art thou that, thus
bescreened in night,
So stumblest on my counsel?
Romeo: A calming gesture as he tries to tread water.
ROMEO
By a name I know not how to tell
thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to
MYSELF
Because it is an enemy to thee.
The ferocious barking of a guard dog arrests the teenagers
attention. A moment, then they slide beneath the water.
CUT TO: The security guard and dog appearing above the pool
area.
GUARD'S P.O.V.: The rippling surface of the water.
CUT TO - UNDERWATER SHOT: Romeo and Juliet submerged, hair
streaming, stare at each other like two beautiful fish.
CUT TO: The guard. He can see noisy caterers cleaning up
around the other side of the house. Frowning, he returns
the way he came.
CUT TO: Romeo and Juliet. Gasping for air, they cautiously
surface. A moment - then Juliet, a small smile.
JULIET
Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?
ROMEO
Neither, fair maid, if either thee
dislike.
Juliet looks nervously toward the house. She drags Romeo
toward a small grotto at the end of the pool.
JULIET
How cam'st thou hither, tell me,
and whyfore?
The garden walls are high and hard
to climb,
And the place death, considering
who thou art.
ROMEO
(with splashy bravado)
With love's light wings did I o'er
perch these walls.
For stony limits cannot hold love
out,
And what love can do, that dares
love attempt.
Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop
to me.
Juliet drags Romeo firmly into the grotto.
JULIET
(a real fear)
If they do see thee, they will
murder thee.
Romeo slowly pulls Juliet toward him.
ROMEO
I have night's cloak to hide me
from their eyes.
And but thou love me, let them find
me here.
My life were better ended by their
HATE
Than death prorogued, wanting of
thy love.
The lovers kiss long and deep. Then Juliet, suddenly
fearful, pushes Romeo away.
JULIET
Thou knowest the mask of night is
on my face,
Else would a maiden blush bepaint
my cheek,
For that which thou hast heard me
speak tonight.
Fain would I dwell on form - fain,
fain deny
What I have spoke. But farewell
compliment!
Dost thou love me?
Romeo tries to speak, Juliet silences him.
JULIET (CONT.)
I know thou wilt say 'Ay', and I
will take thy word. Yet, if thou
swearest,
Thou mayst prove false. O gentle
Romeo,
If thou dost love, pronounce it
faithfully.
Or if thou think'st I am too
quickly won,
I'll frown, and be perverse, and
say thee nay,
So thou wilt woo. But else, not
for the world.
In truth, fair Montague, I am too
fond,
And therefore thou mayst think my
'haviour light.
But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove
more true
Than those that have more cunning
to be strange.
ROMEO
Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow,
That tips with silver all these
fruit-tree tops -
JULIET
O, swear not by the moon, th'
inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled
orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise
variable.
ROMEO
What shall I swear by?
JULIET
Do not swear at all.
Or if thou wilt, swear by thy
gracious self,
Which is the god of my idolatry,
And I'll believe thee.
She touches his cheek. Romeo moves his lips close.
ROMEO
If my heart's dear love -
Confused, Juliet breaks away.
JULIET
Well, do not swear. Although I joy
in thee,
I have no joy of this contract
tonight.
It is too rash, too unadvised, too
SUDDEN;
Too like the lightning, which doth
cease to be
Ere one can say 'it lightens.'
Sweet, good night.
This bud of love, by summer's
ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when
next we meet.
Good night, good night. As sweet
repose and rest
Come to thy heart as that within my
breast.
She rushes up the stairs - Romeo follows desperately.
ROMEO
O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?
Juliet - a shocked look.
JULIET
What satisfaction canst thou have
tonight?
CLOSE ON: Romeo.
ROMEO
The exchange of thy love's faithful
vow for mine.
CLOSE ON: Juliet. She runs joyously to Romeo.
JULIET
I gave thee mind before thou didst
request it!
Kissing him passionately.
JULIET (CONT.)
And yet I would it were to give
again.
ROMEO
Wouldst thou withdraw it? For what
purpose love?
JULIET
But to be frank and give it thee
again.
They kiss again. The Nurse calls from inside.
NURSE (O/S)
Juliet!
Juliet looks to the house.
JULIET
(BREATHLESSLY)
Three words, dear Romeo, and good
night indeed.
If that thy bent of love be
honourable.
Thy purpose marriage, send me word
tomorrow,
By one that I'll procure to come to
thee,
Where and what time thou wilt
perform the rite,
And all my fortunes at thy foot
I'll lay
And follow thee my lord throughout
the world.
NURSE (O/S)
Madam!
JULIET
I come, anon - But if thou meanest
not well,
I do beseech thee...
NURSE (O/S)
Madam!
JULIET
(to Nurse)
By and by I come!
To cease thy strife and leave me to
my grief.
Tomorrow will I send.
Romeo holds Juliet's gaze.
ROMEO
So thrive my soul.
NURSE (O/S)
Madam!
Juliet breaks away.
JULIET
A thousand times good night!
With a final kiss, Juliet runs inside.
ROMEO
A thousand times the worse, to want
thy light.
Love goes toward love as schoolboys
from their books;
But love from love, toward school
with heavy looks.
Juliet re-appears at the upper balcony.
JULIET
Romeo! What o'clock tomorrow
Shall I send to thee?
ROMEO
By the hour of nine.
Juliet unclasps a delicate silver necklace from around her
neck.
JULIET
I will not fail. 'Tis twenty year
till then.
Goodnight, goodnight! Parting is
such sweet sorrow.
That I shall say goodnight till it
be morrow.
She lets the necklace fall from her hand. Romeo catches it
and she is gone.
ROMEO
Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace
in thy breast,
Would I were sleep and peace, so
sweet to rest.
INT. GREENHOUSE. DAWN.
Morning sunlight filters through the lush foliage of a
tropical rainforest.
PAN DOWN: As we hear:
FATHER LAURENCE (O/S)
O mickle is the powerful grace that
LIES
In plants, herbs, stones, and their
true qualities.
We discover the intensely concentrating features of FATHER
LAURENCE. Fifties, wiry and wearing a priest's collar,
Laurence delicately makes an incision in the bulb of a small
purple flowered plant.
A pair of fresh faced ten year old boys look on in wonderment
as a vivid blue sap oozes from the incision.
FATHER LAURENCE (CONT.)
Within the infant rind of this weak
FLOWER
Poison hath residence, and medicine
power.
PULL BACK: The Priest carefully gathers the sap into a
beaker. We discover that we are in a small tropical
greenhouse.
FATHER LAURENCE (CONT.)
(to the boys)
For this, being smelt, with that
part cheers each part;
Being tasted, stays all senses with
the heart.
The boys follow the Father as he moves out of the greenhouse
and into an adjoining work area. The walls are lined with
bottles of herbs and dried plants and a television flickers
in the corner.
FATHER LAURENCE (CONT.)
For naught so vile on the earth
doth live,
But to the earth some special good
doth give;
With the precision of a chemist, Father Laurence funnels the
sap into a small bottle and places it in the refrigerator.
From out of the refrigerator he produces a large jar of
candy. He eyes the boys sternly.
FATHER LAURENCE (CONT.)
Nor aught so good but, strained
from that fair use,
Revolts from true birth, stumbling
on abuse.
The boys take their candy and scram.
CUT TO: The muted television. A morning news program shows
footage of a murder scene cordoned off with police tape. A
distraught mother is being restrained.
CLOSE ON: The priest contemplating the television.
FATHER LAURENCE
Two such opposed kings encamp them
STILL
In man as well as herbs: grace and
rude will;
And where the worser is predominant,
Full soon the canker death eats up
that plant.
A feverish knocking breaks the priest's reverie.
ROMEO (O/S)
Good morrow, father!
Father Laurence snaps off the television and exits the
workroom.
EXT. WALL. DAWN.
Romeo, dressed in last night's chain mail, pounds desperately
on a wooden door set into a high stone wall.
ROMEO
Good morrow, father!
EXT. COURTYARD. DAWN.
From the workroom, Father Laurence enters a courtyard which
encloses a tranquil tropical garden. He opens a door in the
wall of the courtyard and smiles as the costumed Romeo
bursts in.
FATHER LAURENCE
Benedicite!
What early tongue so sweet saluteth
me?
Without pausing, the priest continues through the courtyard
and toward the church.
FATHER LAURENCE (CONT.)
Young son, it argues a distempered
HEAD
So soon to bid good morrow to thy
bed.
Or if not so, then here I hit it
right -
Our Romeo hath not been in bed
tonight.
The priest enters the back of the church.
INT. SACRISTY. DAWN.
Romeo, on fire to tell of his experience, follows the priest
into the sacristy.
ROMEO
The last is true. The sweeter rest
was mine.
FATHER LAURENCE
(he stops)
God pardon sin! Wast thou with
Rosaline?
ROMEO
With Rosaline, my ghostly father?
No.
I have forgot that name and that
name's woe.
The Father lays out the cut glass bottles and communion tray
for mass.
FATHER LAURENCE
That's my good son! But where hast
thou been then?
Unconsciously, Romeo helps the priest prepare. It is clear
he knows the routine by heart.
ROMEO
I have been feasting with mine
enemy,
Where on a sudden one hath wounded
me.
That's by me wounded. Both our
REMEDIES
Within they help and holy physic
lies.
FATHER LAURENCE
(buttoning a long
black cassock)
Be plain, good son, and homely in
thy drift.
Riddling confession finds but
riddling shrift.
ROMEO
Then plainly know my heart's dear
love is set,
On the fair daughter of rich
Capulet.
We met, we wooed, and made exchange
of vow,
I'll tell thee as we pass. But
this I pray,
That thou consent to marry us today.
CUT TO: The Priest, thunderstruck. The two kids, now
dressed in red altar-boy robes, enter.
ALTAR BOYS
Good morrow, Romeo.
The apoplectic priest waves the boys away. They get the
message and bolt.
FATHER LAURENCE
Holy Saint Francis! What a change
is here!
Is Rosaline, that thou didst love
so dear,
So soon foresaken? Young men's
love then lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in
their eyes.
ROMEO
Thou chid'st me oft for loving
Rosaline.
FATHER LAURENCE
(very angry)
For doting, not for loving, pupil
mine.
ROMEO
I pray thee chide me not. Her I
love now
Doth grace for grace and love for
love allow.
The other did not so.
FATHER LAURENCE
O, she knew well
Thy love did read by rote, that
could not spell.
The Father falls into a chair and considers. He looks
through the sacristy door to where a small children's choir
has assembled. Their angelic voices soar into the purest of
hymns.
CHOIR
How can you just leave me standing
Alone in a world so cold,
Maybe I'm just too demanding,
Maybe I'm just like my father, too
bold,
Maybe you're just like my mother,
She's never satisfied.
Why do we scream at each other?
This is what it sounds like when
doves cry...
We recognise the hymn as "When Doves Cry" by Prince.
PUSH IN: On the Priest; moved, he looks to Romeo.
FATHER LAURENCE
But come, young waverer, come, go
with me.
In one respect I'll thy assistant
be.
For this alliance may so happy
PROVE
To turn your households' rancor to
pure love.
Romeo hurriedly assists the priest with his vestments.
ROMEO
O, let us hence! I stand on sudden
haste.
Father Laurence holds Romeo in his powerful gaze.
FATHER LAURENCE
Wisely and slow. They stumble that
run fast.
The procession is joined by the two little altar boys and
the mass begins.
EXT. VERONA BEACH. DAY.
As the Angelic voices of the choir soar, we see a pay phone
etched with hyper-real starkness against the white sand,
green sea and blue sky.
A single leaning palm tree frames the image like a ridiculous
tourist postcard.
Benvolio speaks on the pay phone. Mercutio, torso naked but
for his holstered Sports Rapier 9mm, drums his fingers on
the side of the booth.
MERCUTIO
Where the devil should this Romeo
be?
Came he not home tonight?
BENVOLIO
(slamming down the phone)
Not to his father's. I spoke with
his man.
Mercutio storms off down the beach.
MERCUTIO
Why, that same pale hard-hearted
wench, that Rosaline,
Torments him so that he will sure
run mad.
BENVOLIO
(running to keep up)
Tybalt hath sent a letter to his
father's house.
MERCUTIO
(halts abruptly)
A challenge, on my life.
CLOSE ON: Benvolio, unsure.
BENVOLIO
Romeo will answer it?
MERCUTIO
Any man that can write may answer a
letter.
BENVOLIO
Nay, he will answer the letter's
master, how he dares, being dared.
Mercutio clamps Benvolio into a headlock.
MERCUTIO
Alas, poor Romeo, he is already
dead!
Stabbed with a white wench's black
eye,
He whispers into Benvolio's ear:
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
Run through the ear with a love
song.
(in disgust)
And is he a man to encounter Tybalt?
BENVOLIO
(struggling to break free)
Why, what is Tybalt?
MERCUTIO
(releasing him)
More than Prince of Cats, I can
tell you.
O, he's the courageous captain of
compliments.
The very butcher of a silk button.
Lightening fast, Mercutio draws his gun. He twirls it in an
impressive display of gunmanship which ends with the barrel
between the startled Benvolio's eyes.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
A duellist, a duellist.
Romeo's car pulls into the beach side parking lot. Benvolio
heads toward it.
BENVOLIO
Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo!
EXT. BEACH - PARKING LOT. DAY.
Romeo alights from his car and throws his keys to Balthasar
who lounges outside the beach side hang. Mercutio saunters
up the beach with mock nonchalance.
MERCUTIO
Signor Romeo, Bonjour. There's a
French salutation to your French
slop. You gave us the counterfeit
fairly last night.
ROMEO
Good morrow to you both. What
counterfeit did I give you?
MERCUTIO
The slip, sir, the slip. Can you
not conceive?
Romeo smiles smugly.
ROMEO
Pardon, good Mercutio. My business
was great, and in such a case as
mine a man may strain courtesy.
MERCUTIO
(SARCASTICALLY)
A most courteous exposition.
ROMEO
Nay I am the very pink of courtesy.
MERCUTIO
(CAMPLY)
Pink for flower?
The boys laugh. Romeo feigns anger.
ROMEO
I will bite thee on the ear for
that jest!
Mercutio, goading Romeo to follow, backs off down the beach.
MERCUTIO
Come between us, good Benvolio! My
wits faint.
Mercutio flicks sand at Romeo, then sprints off down the
beach. Romeo, laughing, gives chase.
ROMEO
Switch and spurs, switch and spurs,
or I'll cry a match.
EXT. BEACH - SHORELINE. DAY.
Romeo is gaining on Mercutio, who runs headlong into the sea.
With a yell, Romeo dives in after him.
EXT. BEACH - AT SEA. DAY.
Mercutio splashes the laughing Romeo.
MERCUTIO
Why, is not this better now than
groaning for love?
Romeo tries to dunk Mercutio.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
Now art thou sociable.
Mercutio, evading, heads for shore.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
Now art thou Romeo. Now art thou...
EXT. BEACH - SHORELINE. DAY.
Romeo tackles Mercutio on the wet sand. Mercutio falls
suddenly serious.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
(QUIETLY)
What thou art, by art as well as by
nature.
A moment between the boys. A shadow falls across them.
Romeo looks up.
ROMEO
Here's goodly gear.
Standing above the boys is the Nurse. She wears a
ridiculous, all red, "Jackie O" style disguise of sunglasses,
scarf and parasol.
MERCUTIO
(BEMUSED)
God ye good e'en fair gentlewoman.
The nurse, ignoring Mercutio, speaks dramatically to Romeo.
NURSE
I desire some confidence with you.
She turns and walks back to the parking lot where Peter the
chauffer waits beside the limousine.
Benvolio and the other boys look on curiously.
MERCUTIO
A bawd, a bawd, a bawd! So ho!
But Romeo rises and to the amazement of Mercutio actually
follows this woman. Mercutio looks questioningly to
Benvolio, who shrugs.
BENVOLIO
She will endite him to some supper?
Even more strangely, Romeo gets into the limousine.
MERCUTIO
(taken by surprise)
Romeo, will you come to your
father's?
We'll to dinner thither.
ROMEO
(as he closes the door)
I will follow you.
MERCUTIO
Farewell, ancient lady. Farewell.
The car pulls away.
EXT. STREET. DAY.
The limousine drives through Verona Beach.
INT. MOVING LIMOUSINE. DAY.
CLOSE ON: Romeo jammed into the corner of the seat. The
Nurse's face is pressed alarmingly close to his. She speaks
in cold deadly earnest.
NURSE
If ye should lead her in a fool's
paradise, as they say, it were a
very gross kind of behavior, as
they say. For the gentlewoman is
young; and therefore, if you should
deal double with her, truly it were
an ill thing and very weak dealing.
BEAT: Romeo chooses his words carefully.
ROMEO
Bid her to come to confession this
afternoon,
And there she shall at Friar
Laurence's cell
Be shrived and
(PUSH IN ON: Romeo)
married.
INT. JULIET'S BEDROOM. DAY.
CLOSE ON: Juliet's face peering out her bedroom window.
JULIET
O God she comes!
EXT. CAPULETS MANSION - DRIVEWAY. DAY.
PULL BACK: JULIET'S P.O.V.: The limousine pulls up at the
front door, the Nurse alights.
Juliet bolts from the room.
INT. LANDING. DAY.
Juliet hurries down the stairs - the Nurse, a way ahead,
disappears into a doorway.
INT. STAIRWAY. DAY.
Juliet races down a dark stairwell that leads to the bowels
of the house.
INT. KITCHEN. DAY.
The kitchen, obviously the Nurse's domain, is decorated with
a mixture of religious iconography and travel posters. Most
of the posters depict a strange city of decadent, decaying,
beauty.
Juliet bursts breathlessly into the room.
JULIET
O honey nurse, what news?
The Nurse, buried up to her ample hips inside the
refrigerator, does not turn around.
Juliet cries impatiently.
JULIET
Nurse!
The nurse emerges from the ice box laden with food. Moving
to the counter she starts to make a sandwich.
NURSE
I am aweary, give me leave awhile.
Fie, how my bones ache. What a
jaunce have I.
Juliet under her breath.
JULIET
I would thou hadst my bones and I
thy news.
Juliet goes to the nurse.
JULIET
Nay come, I pray thee, speak: good;
GOOD
Nurse, speak.
Sandwich made, the nurse shuffles over to a corner couch.
NURSE
Jesu, what haste. Can you not stay
awhile?
Can you not see I am out of breath?
Juliet cannot stand the suspense any longer.
JULIET
How art thou out of breath when
thou hast breath
To say to me that thou art out of
breath!
Is the news good or bad? Answer to
that.
The Nurse takes a big bite from her sandwich and answers
through thoughtful chews.
NURSE
Well, you have made a simple
choice.
You know not how to choose a man.
Romeo? No, not he.
Though his face be better than any
man's, yet his leg excels all men's
and for a hand and a foot and a
body, though they be not to be
talked on, yet they are past
compare.
He's not the flower of courtesy,
but I'll warrant him as gentle as a
lamb. Go thy ways, wench, serve
God. What, have you dined at home?
Juliet is flabbergasted.
JULIET
No, no. But all this I did know
before. What says he of our
marriage? What of that
NURSE
Lord how my head aches! What a
head have I:
My back -
This is a game that Juliet knows well. She moves behind the
Nurse and begins massaging her back.
NURSE (CONT.)
o' t'other side - ah, my back!
Beshrew your heart for sending me
ABOUT
To catch my death with jauncing up
and down.
With sublime self control, Juliet coo's sweetly.
JULIET
I'faith I am sorry that thou art
not well.
Sweet, sweet, sweet Nurse, tell me,
what says my love?
NURSE
Your love says like an honest
gentleman,
And a courteous, and a kind, and a
handsome,
And I warrant a virtuous - Where is
your mother?
Juliet cracks.
JULIET
Where is my mother? How oddly thou
repliest!
'Your love says, like an honest
gentleman, "Where is your mother"'!
The nurse sulks.
NURSE
O God's lady dear are you so hot?
Henceforth do your messages yourself.
Juliet's frustration explodes.
JULIET
Here's such a coil! COME WHAT SAYS
ROMEO?
PAUSE: The Nurse considers Juliet.
NURSE
Have you got leave to go to
confession today?
JULIET
I have.
NURSE
Then hie you hence to Father
Laurence cell.
There stays a husband to make you a
wife!
Juliet, with a scream of joy, hugs the Nurse to her.
HOLD ON: Juliet's ecstatic features.
INT. CHURCH. DAY.
TIGHT ON: FATHER LAURENCE:
FATHER LAURENCE
These violent delights have violent
ends!
PULL BACK: Father Laurence is preaching energetically from
the pulpit. Hidden from the congregation, Romeo waits in a
small alcove chapel at the side of the altar.
FATHER LAURENCE (CONT.)
The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in its own
deliciousness,
Therefore love moderately.
The Father glances toward Romeo.
FATHER LAURENCE (CONT.)
Long love doth so.
Too swift arrives as tardy as too
slow.
Juliet pushes through the double doors at the far end of the
church.
Father Laurence motions to the middle-aged choir master who
leads the choir into a choral version of Led Zeppelin's "A
Whole Lot of Love" with Latin lyrics.
Father Laurence hurries from the altar over to Romeo.
FATHER LAURENCE (CONT.)
Here comes the lady.
Juliet bursts into the tiny chapel. Trying to observe a
vestige of decorum, she greets Father Laurence.
JULIET
Good afternoon to my ghostly
confessor.
But before the priest can reply, the two lovers embrace,
kissing passionately.
FATHER LAURENCE
(DRYLY)
Romeo shall thank thee, daughter,
for us both.
The choir completes the hymn and the priest, realising it is
his cue, rushes back to the altar. He quickly delivers a
prayer to the congregation while eyeing the increasingly
amorous smooching of the young couple.
The choir launch into a joyous chorus and the priest returns
to Romeo and Juliet. He delicately parts the couple.
FATHER LAURENCE (CONT.)
Come, come, and we will make short
work.
For, by your leaves, you shall not
stay alone
Till Holy Church incorporate two in
one.
A young boy with a voice like Jamiroquai steps forward. He
launches into a wailing solo.
MACRO CLOSE UP: A simple silver ring. Engraved on the
inside of the band are the words 'I love thee.'
PULL BACK: Romeo slips the ring onto Juliet's finger as the
priest executes the formal sacrament of marriage.
INT./EXT. CHURCH. DAY.
CRANE UP: Through the majestic patterning of stained glass,
and out of the church to find Peter, the chauffeur, cradling
a small camera as he waits nervously beside the limo.
EXT. CHURCH. DAY.
The music swells in celebration. Romeo and Juliet, now
newly-wed, rush from the side door of the church. The
priest follows, throwing handfuls of rice. Peter studiously
takes a snap as the bride and groom kiss.
Peter holds the door of the limousine open. Reluctantly
Juliet gets into the car.
As the car pulls out of the driveway, Romeo runs alongside.
HOLD: On Romeo as he watches the big black car speed away.
EXT. UNDERWATER. DAY.
FISH-EYE VIEW: From the bottom of the ocean; Mercutio's
distorted features. Gun aimed, he stares intently into the
water.
A muffled BANG! and a bullet whizzes past the camera.
EXT. VERONA BEACH. DAY.
We see that Mercutio - wading in knee deep water close to
the beach - is hunting fish.
Benvolio shelters in the shade of an unmanned life guard
tower.
A shimmering heat haze blankets the deserted beach and the
horizon is stacked with purple storm clouds.
BENVOLIO
I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's
retire.
The day is hot,
Mercutio, ignoring him, plugs away at another fish. Benvolio
nervously looks to see if there is any reaction to the sound
of the shot.
BENVOLIO (CONT.)
The Capels are abroad. And if we
meet we shall not 'scape a brawl.
Mercutio strides out of the water.
MERCUTIO
Thou art like one of these fellows
that, when he enters the confines
of a tavern, claps me his sword
upon the table and says 'God send
me no need of thee!'
(he hands Benvolio
his gun)
and by the operation of the second
cup draws him on the drawer, when
indeed there is no need.
Another incredible sleight of hand routine and Mercutio has
managed to draw Benvolio's pistol, retrieve his own gun, and
trap Benvolio with a barrel at each temple.
The joke has worn thin for Benvolio; he pushes past Mercutio
toward where Balthasar, Sampson and Gregory lounge in the
shade of the beach-side hang.
Suddenly he stops dead - a monstrous black sedan prowls into
the beach side parking lot.
BENVOLIO
By my head, here comes the Capulets.
MERCUTIO
By my heel, I care not.
EXT. BEACH - PARKING LOT. DAY.
The sedan mounts the curb and slides to a halt only metres
from Benvolio and Mercutio.
Tybalt, Abra and Petruchio alight from the sedan and walk
menacingly toward Mercutio and Benvolio.
TYBALT
Gentlemen, good day. A word with
one of you.
The boys from the hang, drawn the Capulet car, converge -
eyes dart nervously, hands stray towards guns.
Mercutio smiles mockingly.
MERCUTIO
And but one word with one of us?
Couple it with something. Make it
a word and a...
Leaning close to Tybalt, he camps the implication.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
...blow.
Mercutio scores. The boys laugh.
TYBALT
(FURIOUS)
You shall find me apt enough to
that, sir,
(clutching at his
side arm)
And you will give me occasion.
CLOSE ON: Mercutio. He stops, eyeing the hand on the gun.
No one moves.
MERCUTIO
(a breathy, coquettish
VOICE)
Could you not take some occasion
without giving?
The boys fall about again. Tybalt cracks.
TYBALT
Mercutio, thou consortest with Romeo.
The accusation stings - Mercutio's anger flares.
MERCUTIO
Consort? What, dost thou make us
minstrels? And thou make minstrels
of us look to hear nothing but
discords. Here's my fiddlestick.
Indicating his holstered gun.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
Here's that shall make you dance.
(barking at Tybalt)
Zounds,
(goading him to go
for his gun)
consort!
CLOSE ON: Tybalt.
CLOSE ON: Mercutio. He will not back down. Benvolio tries
to diffuse things.
BENVOLIO
Either withdraw unto some private
place.
Or reason coldly of your grievances.
Here all eyes gaze on us.
MERCUTIO
Men's eyes were made to look, and
let them gaze.
I will not budge for no man's
pleasure, I.
At that moment, Romeo's car pulls into the lot. Tybalt
smiles.
TYBALT
Well sir, here comes my man.
Tybalt moves toward Romeo who bounds from his car full of
happy news.
TYBALT
Romeo, the love I bear thee can
AFFORD
No better term than this:
CLOSE ON: Tybalt. He clears his jacket from his side arm
and issues the challenge.
TYBALT (CONT.)
Thou art a villain!
CLOSE ON: Mercutio.
CLOSE ON: Benvolio.
All eyes are on Romeo.
Romeo calmly approaches his now cousin.
ROMEO
Tybalt, the reason that I have to
love thee
Doth much excuse the appertaining
RAGE
To such a greeting: villain am I
none,
Therefore farewell. I see thou
knowest me not.
Romeo turns, and to the amazement of all, walks back to his
car. Tybalt, unable to shoot him in the back, is confused.
He hurls himself into his sedan.
Kicking it into a sand spraying U-turn, he careens the short
distance to Romeo's car. Slamming into the back of it he
blocks Romeo in.
Tybalt leaps out, maniacally kicking at bumper, door and
headlights. Romeo flicks the locks down. Tybalt shatters
the side window and hauls Romeo through the door, slamming
him against the savaged fuselage.
TYBALT
Boy, this shall not excuse the
INJURIES
That thou hast done me!
He smashes Romeo across the face, Romeo crashes to the
roadway.
TYBALT
(YELLING)
Turn and draw.
A cut has opened in the side of Romeo's mouth. He unsteadily
lifts himself up, and meeting Tybalt's gaze, speaks through
bloodied teeth.
ROMEO
I never injured thee,
And so, good Capulet, which name I
TENDER
As dearly as mine own...
Romeo cautiously extracts his gun...
ROMEO (CONT.)
...be satisfied.
...and throws it at Tybalt's feet.
Storm clouds obscure the sun as Romeo turns and walks from
the parking lot.
Mercutio, Benvolio and the others cannot believe their eyes.
MERCUTIO
O calm, dishonourable, vile
submission!
EXT. BEACH - VACANT LOT. DAY.
Tybalt's anger must be answered. He ceremoniously disarms,
gives his weapon to Abra, and sprints after Romeo who is now
passing a beach side lot that houses an abandoned grand
hotel. A bone-cracking kick sends Romeo crumbling into the
vacant lot. The boys swarm toward the fray.
Romeo, still refusing the fight, scrambles up the stairs of
the deserted hotel. Tybalt trips him and Romeo careens into
an ornamental wooden railing, smashing it to pieces.
Tybalt kicks savagely at the helpless Romeo.
Suddenly, Mercutio appears running full tilt down the
concrete terrace. He plucks up one of the splintered wooden
palings and yells...
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
Tybalt, you ratcatcher,
...as he bludgeons him across the face. Tybalt goes down.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
Will you walk?
Tybalt leaps to his feet grabbing a lump of wood.
TYBALT
What wouldst thou have with me?
He swipes at Mercutio.
MERCUTIO
(AVOIDING)
Good King of Cats, nothing but one
of your nine lives.
Mercutio jabs, Tybalt sidesteps.
TYBALT
I am for you.
Tybalt aims a double-handed blow to Mercutio's head.
Mercutio blocks, hooking Tybalt's stick away.
Unarmed, Tybalt throws his full body weight upon Mercutio,
slamming him against a window that shatters in a storm of
glass.
Lightning fast, Mercutio jackknifes to his feet. He raises
his weapon to deliver a skull-crushing final blow to the
trapped Tybalt. Romeo rushes between them.
ROMEO
Forbear this outrage, good Mercutio!
Seizing the opportunity, Tybalt lunges at Romeo with a
lethal triangle of broken glass. He misses, gouging instead
a slash of flesh from Mercutio's stomach.
A scream of excruciating pain as Mercutio grabs at his
bloodied side. Everyone is still. In the abrupt silence,
sirens are heard closing in the distance. Abra tugs at
Tybalt.
ABRA
Away Tybalt!
They bolt for their vehicle.
Benvolio goes to Mercutio.
BENVOLIO
Art thou hurt?
But Mercutio, covering his wound with his hand, laughs.
MERCUTIO
Ay, ay, a scratch.
He turns to his assembled fans at the bottom of the stairs.
With outrageous bravado he plays at being Caesar the
conqueror.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
A scratch!
The boys cheer their conquering hero. Romeo helps Mercutio
down the stairs.
ROMEO
Courage, man. The hurt cannot be
much.
Mercutio holding his bleeding side, jokes through the pain.
MERCUTIO
'Twill serve. Ask for me tomorrow
and you shall find me a grave man.
He turns the next thought to the assembled audience.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
(through crazy laughter)
A plague o' both your houses!
Mercutio turns from the cheering boys to Romeo who is
struggling to support his weight.
Mercutio - through weak and desperate breathing.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
Why the devil came you between us?
I was hurt under your arm.
Romeo starts to register the panic in Mercutio's eyes.
ROMEO
I thought all for the best.
Like an animal trying to break free from a mortal trap,
Mercutio pushes Romeo away. He screams in horror, as if
falling in the dark:
MERCUTIO
A plague o' both your houses!
They have made worms' meat of me.
Mercutio staggers down the stairs and collapses in the dirt.
Romeo is there instantly, cradling his friend's head out of
the dust. The dying boy stares back at Romeo, smiling
through the chilling cold.
MERCUTIO (CONT.)
(a silent whisper)
Your houses!
Everything stands still, everything is quiet. The storm
finally breaks.
EXT. BEACH - RAIN. DAY.
Tiny drops of water fall from the sky and bespeckle
Mercutio's lifeless body. The droplets grow to a heavy rain.
Romeo can hear the faint sound a thousand miles away of
Benvolio whispering:
BENVOLIO
Mercutio is dead!
Tears streak Romeo's face. He cries out.
ROMEO
Oh sweet Juliet,
Thy beauty hath made me effeminate
And in my temper softened valor's
steel!
The sound of Tybalt's vehicle starting brings back cold
reality. Romeo's sorrow turns to uncontrollable rage.
Shrugging aside Benvolio's attempts to restrain him, Romeo
runs to his car.
EXT. BEACH - PARKING LOT. DAY.
Up ahead Tybalt's sedan screeches into a fishtailing U-turn
and powers away.
Romeo jumps into his vehicle. In an effort to head Tybalt
off, he guns his damaged machine down a one way street.
The rain is now blinding. Romeo stops for nothing;
pedestrians flee, cars spin out of control.
EXT. VERONA BEACH STREETS - FROM AIR. DAY.
AERIAL SHOT: The two cars speed along parallel roads toward
Plaza Jesu. Romeo is gaining.
EXT. VERONA STREET - CHRIST ROUNDABOUT. DAY.
CUT TO: Tybalt's car negotiating the immense roundabout at
the foot of the statue of Jesus.
EXT. CHRIST ROUNDABOUT. DAY.
CUT TO: Romeo's car firing out of the one way street and
slamming into Tybalt's car. Tybalt's car careens out of
control up the stairs of the statue, clips the fountain,
flips, and slides upside down onto the roadway.
CUT TO: Tybalt scrambling from his upturned vehicle.
CUT TO: Romeo running toward him.
SUDDENLY Romeo is halted by Tybalt's drawn gun. Fearlessly
marching toward it, he screams through tears.
ROMEO
Mercutio's soul
Is but a little way above our heads,
Romeo grabs the barrel of the gun; forcing it between his
own eyes, he growls insanely at Tybalt.
ROMEO (CONT.)
Staying for thine to keep him
company.
Tybalt, unnerved, tries to back off.
TYBALT
Thou, wretched boy, shalt with him
hence.
Romeo, refusing to let go of the gun, forces Tybalt backward
through the torrential rain.
ROMEO
(with frightening intensity)
Either thou or I, or both, must go
with him.
Cars swerve, Romeo is relentless. He grips Tybalt's hand
trying to force him to shoot.
ROMEO (CONT.)
Either thou or I, or both, must go
with him.
Panicked, Tybalt wrenches free and lurches onto the roadway.
Blinded by the headlights of an oncoming car he thuds onto
its hood as it skids to a halt. The impact catapults his
gun high into the air.
Romeo coldly follows its slow motion, spinning trajectory.
Real time stretches as the gun dances high above his head.
Police sirens, cars swerving, people screaming, and the
yelling of panicked commands fade to a nothingness.
Romeo stands calmly considering the gun in the air. A
harrowing symphonic tone and the echo of Mercutio's voice
can be heard.
MERCUTIO (V/O)
Why the devil came you between us?
CUT TO: Patrol cars sliding to a halt.
CUT TO: The spinning gun slowly falling to earth.
CUT TO: Tybalt rising from the ground.
CUT TO: Cops leaping from their cars.
CUT TO: The gun landing in Romeo's hand. His eyes full of
rage.
CUT TO: Cops levelling their revolvers.
COP
(Romeo in his sights)
Put up thy weapon.
CUT TO: Real time - Romeo fires three deliberate shots.
Tybalt's body convulses backwards against the car, hitting
it with a thud, bloodying the shattered windscreen.
The cop fires. A bullet grazes Romeo's arm - his gun drops
as he screams.
ROMEO
O, I am fortune's fool!
At that moment a roaring hurricane wind hits; blinding police.
CLOSE ON: The scaffolding surrounding the Jesus statue.
Part of it's canvas covering rips away. Scaffold rains down
as the insanely flapping material tries to smash free from
it's moorings.
Through the mayhem, a rusty Ford driven by Balthasar, slides
to a halt.
Balthasar screams out at Romeo.
BALTHASAR
Romeo, away be gone! Stand not
amazed!
Romeo collapses into the front seat.
The cops open fire as Balthasar speeds off into the storm.
INT. BALTHASAR'S CAR. AFTERNOON.
Romeo is bleeding from the bullet graze.
EXT. CAUSEWAY. AFTERNOON.
The gale-force winds throw waves across the causeway as the
fugitives disappear into the black afternoon.
CRANE UP: In the distance we see Montague and Capulet towers.
Divided by the statue of Christ, they suffer the storm's rage.
EXT. MONUMENT. AFTERNOON.
Away, below the outstretched arms of Christ, lights from
emergency vehicles pulse red through the downpour.
THE CAMERA: Falls through heavy rain toward a woman crouched
over the lifeless body of Tybalt.
She cries:
GLORIA
Tybalt!
Cops nervously eye Fulgencio Capulet and Ted Montague, who,
both flanked by body guards, face each other across the
crime scene. Medics stand by helplessly as Gloria clings to
Tybalt's body. A handcuffed Benvolio looks on.
GLORIA (CONT.)
Tybalt, my cousin, O my brother's
child!
O, the blood is spilled of my dear
kinsman.
Police lines part as Captain Prince arrives.
CAPTAIN PRINCE
Where are the vile beginners of
this fray?
Benvolio struggles forward.
BENVOLIO
O noble Prince I can discover all
The unlucky manage of this fatal
brawl.
Gloria appeals hysterically:
GLORIA
Prince as thou art true,
For blood of ours shed blood of
Montague!
CAPTAIN PRINCE
Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?
BENVOLIO
(pointing to Tybalt's corpse)
There lies the man, slain by young
Romeo,
That slew thy kinsman brave Mercutio.
Gloria interjects savagely.
GLORIA
He speaks not true! Affection
makes him false!
BENVOLIO
Romeo, that spoke him fair, could
not take
Truce with the unruly spleen of
TYBALT
Deaf to peace!
GLORIA
He is a kinsman to the Montague!
I beg for justice which thou Prince
must give.
Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not
live!
Captain Prince turns to Gloria.
CAPTAIN PRINCE
Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio.
Who now the price of his dear blood
doth owe?
Ted Montague pleads:
MONTAGUE
Not Romeo, Prince, he was Mercutio's
friend; His fault concludes but
what the law should end,
The life of Tybalt.
Captain Prince eyes Montague coldly.
CAPTAIN PRINCE
And for that offence
Immediately we do exile him.
Montague, body guards in tow, surges forward.
MONTAGUE
Noble Prince...?
Prince silences him.
CAPTAIN PRINCE
I will be deaf to pleading and
EXCUSES;
Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase
out abuses.
Therefore use none.
The Captain turns and addresses his assembled officers.
CAPTAIN PRINCE (CONT.)
Let Romeo hence in haste,
Else, when he is found that hour is
his last.
CLOSE ON: Captain Prince.
CAPTAIN PRINCE (CONT.)
Bear hence this body and attend our
will.
Mercy but murders, pardoning those
that kill.
INT. JULIET'S BEDROOM. AFTERNOON.
An acoustic guitar version of Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear
Us Apart.' Juliet traces the path of a raindrop on the
window pane as she speaks her thoughts to the storm.
JULIET
Come gentle night, coming loving
black browed night,
Give me my Romeo. And when I shall
die,
Take him and cut him out in little
stars,
And he will make the face of heaven
so fine
That all the world will be in love
with night,
And pay no worship to the garish
sun.
O, I have bought the mansion of a
LOVE
But not possessed it, and though I
am sold,
Not yet enjoyed. So tedious is
this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new
ROBES
And may not wear them.
EXT. CAPULET'S MANSION - DRIVEWAY. AFTERNOON.
Juliet's P.O.V.: The limousine pulls into the driveway.
PULL OUT: Of the window and CRANE DOWN: Juliet runs from the
room.
EXT. CAPULET MANSION. AFTERNOON.
Through the open doorway we see an excited Juliet meet the
Nurse at the bottom of the stairs.
The music surges.
TRACK IN: The Nurse's words are lost in the storm.
Juliet buckles.
INT. CAPULET MANSION. AFTERNOON.
We are close enough now to hear Juliet's words.
JULIET
Oh God! Did Romeo's hand shed
Tybalt's blood?
NURSE
It did, it did! Alas the day, it
did!
JULIET
Oh serpent heart, hid with a
flowering face.
Was ever book containing such vile
MATTER
So fairly bound? O, that deceit
should dwell
In such a gorgeous palace!
NURSE
There's no trust, No faith, no
honesty in men. All perjured,
All forsworn, all naught, all
dissemblers.
Shame come to Romeo.
JULIET
Blistered be thy tongue
For such a wish! He was not born
to shame. Upon his brow shame is
ashamed to sit.
NURSE
Will you speak well of him that
killed your cousin?
JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my
husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall
smooth thy name
When I, thy three-hours wife have
mangled it?
But whyfore, villain, didst thou
kill my cousin?
That villain cousin would have
killed my husband.
All this is comfort, wherefore weep
I then?
Some word there was worser than
Tybalt's death:
I would forget it fain - exiled.
Tybalt is dead, and Romeo exiled.
To speak that word is father,
mother,
Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, all slain,
All dead.
Juliet sinks to the floor, overwhelmed by tears.
JULIET (CONT.)
Nurse, I'll to my wedding bed,
And death, not Romeo, take my
maidenhead.
Nurse looks down at Juliet. She goes and comforts her.
NURSE
Hie to your chamber. I'll find
ROMEO
To comfort you. I know well where
he is.
Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at
night.
Juliet looks up through tears.
JULIET
O find him, give this ring to my
true knight,
And bid him come to take his last
farewell.
SLAM MACRO ZOOM: Into the ring. The screen fills with the
words 'I love thee'.
INT. PRESBYTERY BEDROOM. NIGHT.
Romeo lies on the bed shirtless and crying. His wound has
been bandaged and Balthasar crouches frightened in the corner.
The priest leads the Nurse into the room.
Romeo looks up.
ROMEO
Nurse!
She goes to him.
NURSE
Ah sir! Ah sir! Death's the end
of all.
ROMEO
Speakest thou of Juliet?
Where is she? And how doth she?
And what says
My concealed lady to our cancelled
love?
NURSE
O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps
and weeps,
And then on Romeo cries, and then
falls down again.
Romeo is wailing inconsolably.
ROMEO
As if that name,
Shot from the deadly level of a
gun,
Did murder her, as that name's
cursed hand murdered her kinsman!
Father Laurence shakes the hysterical boy.
FATHER LAURENCE
I thought thy disposition better
tempered!
Thy Juliet is alive, There art thou
happy.
The law that threatened death
becomes thy friend
And turns it to exile. There art
thou happy.
A pack of blessings light upon thy
back.
Romeo calms. The Nurse gives him the ring.
NURSE
Here sir, a ring my lady bid me
give you.
Romeo enfolds the ring in his hand.
ROMEO
How well my comfort is revived by
this.
The priest goes to his wardrobe, removes a clean white shirt
and helps Romeo put it on.
FATHER LAURENCE
Go, get thee to thy love, as was
decreed.
Ascend her chamber. Hence and
comfort her.
But look thou stay not till the
Watch be set,
For then thou canst not pass to
Mantua where thou shalt live till
we can find a time
To blaze your marriage, reconcile
your friends,
Beg pardon of the Prince and call
thee back,
With twenty hundred thousand times
more joy
Than thou wentst forth in
lamentation.
Father Laurence ushers Romeo from the room.
INT. HALLWAY. NIGHT.
They hurry down the hallway.
The priest opens the front door.
FATHER LAURENCE
Go hence. Be gone by the break of
DAY
Sojourn in Mantua. Give me thy hand.
Romeo embraces him.
ROMEO
Farewell.
The priest and Balthasar watch as Romeo and the Nurse sprint
for the car.
INT. CAPULET MANSION. NIGHT.
Sobs echo through the house.
Dave Paris stands in the entrance hallway clutching a huge
bunch of flowers.
Fulgencio Capulet stands beside him, whisky glass in hand.
CUT TO: Gloria on the upper landing. There is a strange
faraway quality about her as she descends to Dave and Capulet.
GLORIA
She'll not come down tonight.
Dave, an understanding smile.
DAVE
These times of woe afford no times
to woo.
Capulet guides Dave into the house.
CAPULET
Look you, she loved her kinsman
Tybalt dearly.
GLORIA
(JOINING)
And so did I.
CAPULET
(a cold glance at Gloria)
Well, we were born to die.
Capulet takes a large slug of whisky. Gloria leans close to
Dave.
GLORIA
I'll know her mind early tomorrow.
Tonight she's mewed up to her
heaviness.
As Gloria, Dave and Capulet exit down the hallway we CRANE
UP: toward Juliet's bedroom door.
INT. JULIET'S BEDROOM. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: Juliet's face. Tears stream onto the pillow.
Without warning a hand lightly touches her cheek. Juliet's
eyes dart up to discover Romeo standing above her.
A still moment of disbelief. Leaning down, Roemo kisses
away the tears that fall from her dark, wide eyes.
Juliet's lips find Romeo's and they gently sink back onto
the bed.
INT. SITTING ROOM. NIGHT.
Capulet sits in an armchair drinking. Dave and Gloria sit
opposite as Capulet whips himself into a frenzy of drunken
excitement.
CAPULET
We'll keep no great ado - a friend
or two.
For, hark you, Tybalt being slain
so late,
It may be thought we held him
carelessly,
Being our kinsman if we revel
much -
But soft what day is this?
DAVE
Monday my lord.
CAPULET
Well Wednesday is too soon - what
say you to Thursday?
Gloria looks up alarmed; Dave is stunned.
DAVE
My lord I...
CAPULET
(leaning close)
I will make a desperate tender of
my child's love.
(a drunken good humour)
I think she will be ruled in all
respects by me;
(exploding with
hearty laughter)
Nay, more, I doubt it not!
CUT TO: Gloria, her face hardens.
CAPULET
(to Dave)
But what say you to Thursday?
Dave is trying to catch up.
DAVE
My lord I...
CUT TO: Capulet he eyes Dave intently.
DAVE (CONT.)
I would that Thursday were tomorrow.
Delighted, Capulet jumps to his feet.
CAPULET
A Thursday let it be then!
Capulet holds out his glass in toast. Dave and Gloria rise.
CAPULET
Wife, go you to Juliet ere you go
to bed.
Tell her, a Thursday she shall be
MARRIED
To this noble sir!
CLOSE ON: The glasses clink.
EXT. CAPULET ESTATE. DAWN.
A pink and gold dawn breaks over Capulet Mansion.
INT. JULIET'S BEDROOM. DAWN.
A tangle of young limbs.
Romeo and Juliet blissfully asleep. The dawn light creeps
into the room.
EXT. CAPULET ESTATE. DAWN.
Balthasar's car covertly pulls into a side road near the
estate.
INT. JULIET'S BEDROOM. DAWN.
Romeo and Juliet still asleep.
CRANE DOWN: Toward the sleeping innocence of the faces.
HOLD: A shadow of fear passes across Romeo's features.
With a cry of panic, he sits bolt upright.
Wide awake, but disorientated, Romeo stares around the
room - as Juliet stirs, he remembers where he is.
Slipping quietly from the bed, Romeo begins to dress.
CLOSE ON: Romeo. A pair of lips enter frame and find his
neck. It is Juliet. She hugs herself to him.
JULIET
Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet
near day.
Romeo turns - softly he strokes her cheek.
ROMEO
I must be gone and live, or stay
and die.
Juliet kisses his finger-tips.
JULIET
Yond light is not daylight,
And then his cheek...
JULIET (CONT.)
I know it, I
It is some meteor that the sun
EXHALES
To light thee on thy way to Mantua.
Therefore stay yet. Thou needest
not to be gone.
Romeo, feverishly returning the kisses, throws himself on
Juliet.
ROMEO
Let me be taken, let me be put to
death.
I have more care to stay than will
to go.
Come, death, and welcome! Juliet
wills it so.
Juliet is suddenly still. Romeo kisses her gently.
ROMEO (CONT.)
How is't, my soul? Let's talk. It
is not day.
Juliet pulls Romeo to his feet.
JULIET
It is, it is! Hie hence, be gone,
away!
O, now be gone! More light and
light it grows.
Frantically she helps him into his clothes.
ROMEO
More light and light: more dark and
dark our woes.
There is an urgent knocking on the door. They freeze.
NURSE (O/S)
Madam!
JULIET
Nurse!
NURSE (O/S)
Your lady mother is coming to your
chamber.
JULIET
Then, window, let day in, and let
life out.
Desperately Juliet pulls Romeo out onto the balcony.
EXT. BALCONY. DAWN.
The storm, now past, has left a morning achingly pure.
ROMEO
Farewell, farewell. One kiss, and
I'll descend.
Romeo climbs down from the balcony and into the shadows.
JULIET
O, think'st thou we shall ever meet
again?
Romeo smiles up at her.
ROMEO
I doubt it not;
Juliet's face darkens.
JULIET
O God, I have an ill-divining soul.
Methinks I see thee, now thou art
so low,
As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.
Romeo scrambles back up to the balcony.
ROMEO
Trust me, love, all these woes
shall serve
For sweet discourses in our times
to come.
From Juliet's bedroom comes the brittle sound of Gloria
Capulet's voice.
GLORIA
Ho daughter! Are you up?
Juliet spins around. Gloria has parted the curtains and is
staring directly at her daughter.
GLORIA
Well, well.
CUT TO: Romeo sheltered just below the lip of the balcony.
FOLLOW: His hand, as it slowly reaches up and touches
Juliet's fingers hidden behind her back.
Gloria returns to the room. Juliet steals a glance toward
Romeo as he silently mouths:
ROMEO
Adieu, adieu!
As Romeo's face disappears into the shadows Juliet whispers
a little prayer to herself.
JULIET
O Fortune, Fortune! Be fickle,
Fortune,
Fo then I hope thou wilt not keep
him long
But send him back.
INT. JULIET'S BEDROOM. DAWN.
Juliet is trying not to cry as she goes in to her mother.
Gloria turns to her.
GLORIA
Thou hast a careful father, child:
One who, to put thee from thy
heaviness,
Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy
That thou expects not nor I looked
not for.
Juliet plays along.
JULIET
Madam, in happy time. What day is
that?
Gloria takes a deep breath.
GLORIA
Marry, my child, early next Thursday
MORN
The gallant, young, and noble
gentleman,
Sir Paris, at Saint Peter's Church,
Shall happily make thee there a
joyful bride.
CLOSE ON: Juliet. She can barely speak.
JULIET
Now by Saint Peter's Church, and
Peter too,
He shall not make me there a joyful
bride!
Fear passes across Gloria's face.
GLORIA
Here comes your father. Tell him
so yourself.
Capulet - whisky glass in hand - ebulliently bursts into the
room.
CAPULET
How now, wife?
Have you delivered to her our decree?
GLORIA
Ay, sir. But she will none, she
gives you thanks.
I would the fool were married to
her grave!
Capulet - a dangerous calm.
CAPULET
How? Will she none?
Is she not proud? Doth she not
count her blest,
Unworthy as she is, that we have
WROUGHT
So worthy a gentleman to be her
bride?
JULIET
Not proud you have, but thankful
that you have.
Proud can I never be of what I hate.
PAUSE: Capulet considers his daughter, then -
BAM! He hurls his glass against the wall, shattering it
into a thousand pieces.
CAPULET
Thank me no thankings, nor proud me
no prouds,
But fettle your fine joints 'gainst
Thursday next ...
Capulet advances. Juliet, terrified, retreats into the
hallway.
JULIET
Hear me with patience but to speak
a word...
INT. LANDING. DAY.
The Nurse appears as Capulet picks his daughter up and
shakes her like a rag doll.
CAPULET
Speak not, reply not, do not answer
me!
He throws her to the floor. His fist thuds as it slams into
her face.
GLORIA
(SCREAMING)
Fie, fie! What are you mad?
Gloria tries to restrain Capulet. He back-hands her,
sending her flying against the wall - bellowing insanely, he
advances on his cowering daughter.
CAPULET
Hang thee, young baggage!
Disobedient wretch.
The Nurse throws herself between Capulet and Juliet.
NURSE
God in heaven bless her!
You are to blame, my lord, to rate
her so.
Furious, Capulet shunts her aside.
CAPULET
Peace, you mumbling fool!
Capulet yanks his daughter's face close to his.
CAPULET (CONT.)
I tell thee what - get thee to
church a Thursday
Or never after look me in the face.
And you be mine, I'll give you to
my friend.
And you be not, hang, beg, starve,
die in the streets,
Trust to it. Bethink you. I'll
not be forsworn.
Capulet storms off down the hall.
CLOSE ON: Juliet. She huddles, shaking at the top of the
stairs.
JULIET
O sweet my mother, cast me not
away!
Delay this marriage for a month, a
week.
Or if you do not, make the bridal
BED
In that dim monument where Tybalt
lies.
A trickle of blood issues from Gloria's cut lip. She checks
her appearance in the hall mirror.
GLORIA
Talk not to me, for I'll not speak
a word.
Do as thou wilt, for I have done
with thee.
Gloria leaves.
JULIET
O God! - O Nurse, how shall this be
prevented?
The Nurse doesn't reply.
JULIET (CONT.)
What sayest thou? Hast thou not a
word of joy?
Some comfort, Nurse.
A heavy silence.
The Nurse goes to Juliet.
NURSE
Faith, here it is.
I think it best you married with
this Paris.
O, he's a lovely gentleman!
I think you are happy in this
second match,
For it excels your first; or if it
did not,
Your first is dead - or 'twere as
good he were
As living here and you no use of him.
Juliet is very still.
JULIET
Speakest thou from thy heart?
NURSE
And from my soul too. Else beshrew
them both.
JULIET
Amen.
NURSE
(UNSURE)
What?
Juliet is matter of fact.
JULIET
Well, thou hast comforted me
marvellous much.
Go in; and tell my lady I am gone,
Having displeased my father, to
Friar Laurence,
To make confession and to be
absolved.
The old woman nods. She strokes Juliet's hair.
NURSE
This is wisely done.
Juliet does not look up.
A disturbing choral chant:
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CHURCH. DAY.
Sunlight pierces stained glass - the chant a sinister
underscoring. We hear Dave Paris' voice:
DAVE (O/S)
Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt's
death...
CRANE DOWN: Father Laurence and Dave Paris stand at the
front of the church.
DAVE (CONT.)
...Now, sir, her father counts it
DANGEROUS
That she doth give her sorrow so
much sway,
And in his wisdom hastes our
MARRIAGE
To stop the inundation of her
tears...
Father Laurence turns. Juliet stands framed in the white
glare of the doorway.
Dave smiles.
DAVE
Happily met, my lady and my wife.
CLOSE ON: Juliet's hand concealed beneath her coat - we can
just see the handle of a gun.
Juliet advances slowly, an icy calm:
JULIET
That may be, sir, when I may be a
wife.
DAVE
That 'may be', must be, love, on
Thursday next.
Juliet stares past Dave.
JULIET
What must be, shall be.
Father Laurence, a forced cheerfulness.
FATHER LAURENCE
That's a certain text.
DAVE
Come you to make confession?
Juliet forces a smile.
JULIET
Are you at leisure, holy father,
now?
Or shall I come to you at evening
mass?
FATHER LAURENCE
My leisure serves me, pensive
daughter, now.
(to Dave)
We must entreat the time alone.
DAVE
God shield I should disturb
devotion! - Juliet, on Thursday
early will I rouse ye;
Dave bends.
CLOSE ON: Juliet; she stares stonily ahead as Dave kisses
her cheek.
DAVE (CONT.)
Till then, adieu, and keep this
holy kiss.
Dave leaves.
TRACK WITH: Juliet; she runs for the sacristy.
The priest follows.
INT. SACRISTY. DAY.
Juliet, shaking with sobs takes refuge in the shadows of the
small room.
The priest goes to her.
FATHER LAURENCE
O Juliet, I already know thy grief.
Juliet pulls away.
JULIET
Tell me not, Father, that thou
hearest of this,
Unless thou tell me how I may
prevent it.
FATHER LAURENCE
It strains me past the compass of
my wits.
JULIET
(DESPERATELY)
If in thy wisdom thou canst give no
HELP
Do thou but call my resolution
wise,
And with this I'll help it presently!
She pulls the gun, pointing it towards herself.
Horrified, Father Laurence moves to her.
Juliet, panicked, levels the gun at him.
FATHER LAURENCE
Hold daughter!
JULIET
(through tears)
Be not so long to speak. I lone to
die!
Father Laurence holds out a soothing hand.
FATHER LAURENCE
I do spy a kind of hope,
Which craves as desperate an
EXECUTION
As that is desperate which we would
prevent.
If, rather than marry Paris,
Thou hast the strength of will to
slay thyself,
Then it is likely thou wilt
UNDERTAKE
A thing like death...
We hear the distended chords of Fauré's Requiem.
FATHER LAURENCE (CONT.)
to chide away this shame...
It continues throughout as;
The entire screen fills with a glinting tear drop of blue
liquid.
Reflected in the fluid's convex surface, the face of Father
Laurence.
The face disappears as the tear drop falls and splashes into
a clear water solution.
Like a comet in slow motion, the drop stains the water a
cobalt hue.
INT. GREENHOUSE WORKROOM. DAY.
PULL BACK: The blue liquid fills a tiny glass vial held by
Father Laurence.
FATHER LAURENCE (CONT.)
No warmth, no breath shall testify
thou livest.
Each part, deprived of supple
government,
Shall stiff and stark and cold
appear, like death.
Now when the bridegroom in the
MORNING
Comes to rouse thee from thy bed,
there art thou, dead.
Thou shalt be borne to that same
ancient vault
Where all the kindred of the
Capulets lie.
In the meantime, against thou shalt
awake,
Shall Romeo by my letters know our
drift,
And hither shall he come.
And that very
Night shall Romeo bear thee hence
to Mantua.
The priest cautiously hands Juliet the vial.
FATHER LAURENCE (CONT.)
Take thou this vial, being then in
bed,
And this distilling liquor drink
thou off.
I'll send my letters to thy lord
with speed to Mantua.
EXT. CHURCH. DAY.
As Father Laurence speaks, the screen fills with an express
envelope addressed "Romeo - Mantua." The envelope pulls away
from the camera and falls into a canvas bag brimming with
hundreds of like envelopes.
TRACK: With the canvas bag. It continues its journey into
the back of an express delivery van.
Heavy double doors slam shut, filling the screen with the
slogan 'Speed Express.'
The van pulls away.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. MANTUA. DAY.
A burning red sun is setting over an endless vista of ragged
wasteland.
CRANE DOWN: A weathered sign reads - Mantua: Behind it a
vast colony of permanent trailer homes stretches into the
distance.
The rap, rap, rap of knocking echoes through the park...
CUT TO: The source of the knocking. An express delivery
man, envelope in hand, raps vigorously on the door of an
unremarkable trailer.
INT. TRAILER. DAY.
TOPOGRAPHICAL SHOT: Romeo lies flat on a single bed in the
crampled trailer.
The rap, rap, rap is very loud now. We move toward Romeo
and realise he cannot hear the knocking because he has
Walkman headphones on.
EXT. TRAILER. DAY.
Unsuccessful, the delivery man is filling out a "WE CALLED"
card. He pushes it under the door.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CAPULET MANSION. NIGHT.
The heraldic 'Wedding Chimes' by JS Bach. Juliet stands
resplendent in a radiant bridal gown. The image floats
ethereally in a towering slab of mirror.
PULL OUT: From the mirror. The wedding dress is in fact
being held in front of Juliet by two members of the house
staff. Juliet is dressed in her night gown. The Nurse
suggests various pairs of shoes.
JULIET
(DISINTERESTED)
Ay, these attires are best.
The fuss dispensed with, the staff leave.
JULIET
But, gentle Nurse,
I pray thee leave me to myself
tonight.
NURSE
Why Bride?
Juliet navigates the Nurse toward the door.
JULIET
(almost in tears)
To move the heavens to smile upon
my state,
Which, well thou knowest, is cross
and full of sin.
Juliet holds the Nurse in a pleading stare. She leaves.
Alone now, Juliet hurries to her bedside drawer. She
cautiously removes a rolled piece of cloth from which she
produces the glass vial.
JULIET
(WHISPERS)
What if this mixture do not work at
all?
Shall I be married then tomorrow
morning?
She cautiously begins to unscrew the tiny black lid.
Suddenly, a knock at her door. Palming the vial, Juliet
swings around to meet the arrival of her mother. Gloria
probes her daughter's uneasiness.
GLORIA
What, are you busy, ho? Need you
my help?
JULIET
(makes light of it)
No, madam. We have culled such
NECESSARIES
As are behoveful for our state
tomorrow.
So please you, let me now be left
alone,
And let the Nurse this night sit up
with you.
Juliet begins to pull down the covers on her bed.
JULIET (CONT.)
For I am sure you have your hands
full all
In this so sudden business.
Gloria, sensing Juliet's distress, moves cautiously toward
her. Taking hold of the bed covers she helps her daughter
into bed.
GLORIA
Good night.
Juliet slides into bed. Gloria covers her with the blanket.
GLORIA (CONT.)
Get thee to bed, and rest, for thou
hast need.
A brief moment between mother and daughter. Gloria, unable
to cross that final barrier, moves to the door; but she is
stopped by the urgency in Juliet's voice.
JULIET
Farewell!
Gloria turns to Juliet.
JULIET (CONT.)
God knows when we shall meet again.
CLOSE ON: Gloria. A faint perplexity, and then with an
almost warm smile she turns out the light and leaves.
The room is in darkness but for patterns of moonlight
through windows.
TRACK: Toward Juliet. The sombre tones of Fauré's Requiem
seep into our consciousness.
JULIET
I have a faint cold fear thrills
through my veins
That almost freezes up the heat of
life.
She brings the vial her mouth.
JULIET (CONT.)
Come, vial. Romeo, I drink to thee.
Juliet drinks, a sudden violent convulsion, her face contorts
in fear.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. CAPULET ESTATE. DAY.
The sky is filled with green and grey clouds. A gusty rain
blows the flower arrangements across the lawn. Large white
wedding marquees flap in the wind.
Through blurring rain, we see ambulances and police vehicles,
lights flashing. Father Laurence, accompanied by a dour
looking man in black, alights from his car. We follow their
P.O.V.: We hear snatches of radio calls.
MEDIC ONE (OVER RADIO)
Mortal drugs?
MEDIC TWO (OVER RADIO)
Of lethal quantity as 'twould
render death.
INT. CAPULET MANSION - DINING ROOM. DAY.
They enter the house and pass the vast dining room, bedecked
with wedding decorations.
Capulet sits at the large mahogany table. In the background
Gloria stares vacantly.
Moving swiftly toward a doorway, the music builds.
INT. CAPULET MANSION - JULIET'S BEDROOM. DAY.
The door opens. On the bed Juliet's still body. Father
Laurence closes the door. The priest kneels and hastily
examines Juliet's pupils. He looks to the man in black who
retrieves the glass vial from the floor and pockets it.
FATHER LAURENCE
(to the man in black)
As the custom is,
In all her best array bear her to
church.
When the man in black allows two other dark suited men into
the room, it becomes clear he is the undertaker.
UNDERTAKER
She shall be borne to that same
ancient vault
Where all the kindred of the
Capulets lie.
INT. MAUSOLEUM. DAY.
A thousand voices proclaim the 'Song of Ascension.'
PAN DOWN: From the vaulting glass ceiling of the Capulet
mausoleum.
On view, enshrined in literally thousands of lit candles, is
Juliet's peaceful body.
We move through lines of Capulet mourners. In the shadows
of the front door a young man hides.
CLOSE ON: The young man. We recognise the distressed face
of Balthasar.
PUSH IN: Balthasar rushes from the Mausoleum.
EXT. MANTUA. DAY.
We are high above Mantua. Beyond the trailer park stretches
a long ribbon of black highway.
As a Speed Express van turns off the highway and into the
park, we hear Romeo's voice over:
ROMEO (V/O)
If I may trust the flattering truth
of sleep
My dreams presage some joyful news
at hand...
CRANE DOWN: The Express van pulls up at the front office.
The driver alights and goes inside.
INT. TRAILER. DAY.
Romeo sits at the trailer's small kitchen table smoking and
writing in his notebook. The "WE CALLED" card lies next to
an overflowing ashtray.
His voice over continues.
ROMEO (V/O)
And all this day an unaccustomed
SPIRIT
Lifts me above the ground with
cheerful thoughts.
I dreamt my lady came and found me
DEAD
And breathed such life with kisses
in my lips
That I revived and was an emperor.
Ah me, how sweet is love itself
POSSESSED
When but love's shadows are so rich
in joy.
Stubbing out his cigarette, Romeo gazes through the trailer
window to see Balthasar's speeding car turn off the highway
and into the trailer park.
ROMEO
News from Verona!
An excited Romeo rushes from the trailer.
EXT. TRAILER PARK. DAY.
CRANE HIGH: Romeo sprints across open ground to intercept
Balthasar's car. We see, but Romeo cannot, the Express van
approaching from the office. The car slews to a halt and
Balthasar jumps out.
Romeo yells joyously.
ROMEO
How now, Balthasar?
Bathlasar cannot speak.
ROMEO (CONT.)
Dost thou not bring me letters from
the Priest?
How doth my lady? Is my father
well?
How doth my lady Juliet? That I
ask again,
For nothing can be ill if she be
well.
Balthasar does not know how to say what he has come to tell.
He looks away.
BALTHASAR
Then she is well and nothing can be
ill.
Her body sleeps in Capels' monument,
And her immortal part with angels
lives.
I saw her laid low in her kindred's
vault.
For a long moment Romeo is profoundly still. When he
speaks, it is with a chilling calm.
ROMEO
Is it e'en so?
Balthasar nods.
Romeo turns and stares into the distant wasteland.
CLOSE ON: He speaks with bitter determination.
ROMEO
Then I defy you stars.
Romeo moves to the car.
ROMEO
I will hence tonight.
Balthasar tries to restrain him.
BALTHASAR
Have patience...
Exploding with fury, Romeo throws Balthasar against the
vehicle.
ROMEO
Leave me!
CUT TO: The Speed Express messenger. Returning to his
truck, the priest's undelivered envelope in his hand, the
messenger looks toward the two boys.
CUT TO: The boys. Balthasar pleads with Romeo.
BALTHASAR
Your looks are pale and wild and do
IMPORT
Some misadventure.
ROMEO
(with cold serenity)
Tush, thou art deceived.
(a niggling thought)
Hast thou no letters to me from the
Priest?
Balthasar shakes his head.
Romeo smiles.
ROMEO
No matter - I will hence tonight.
Romeo climbs into the passenger seat of the car. Balthasar
reluctantly gets behind the wheel.
As silent tears begin to flow, Romeo turns his face to the
setting sun.
PUSH IN: As he whispers:
ROMEO
Well Juliet, I will lie with thee
tonight.
Balthasar's car roars out of the park.
CUT TO: The delivery man. He looks to the envelope in his
hand, then gets back into his truck.
EXT. HIGHWAY. NIGHT.
Balthasar's car speeds along the night-time highway.
CRANE UP: In the distance the glow of city lights.
EXT. ALLEYWAY. NIGHT.
Balthasar's car pulls into an alley and stops outside a
decrepity apartment block.
INT. APARTMENT BLOCK. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: A bespectacled eye peers through the crack of a
partly open doorway. Below the face, the barrel of a
shotgun protrudes menacingly.
CUT TO: Romeo in the dark, paint peeling hallway.
ROMEO
Let me have
A dram of poison, such soon-
speeding gear
As will disperse itself through all
the veins
That the life-weary taker may fall
dead.
The eye considers, a voice rasps back.
APOTHECARY
Such mortal drugs I have, but
Verona's law
Is death to any he that utters them.
Romeo speaks with fury.
ROMEO
The world is not thy friend, nor
the world's law.
Then be not poor, but break it and
take this.
Romeo shoves a wad of money at THE APOTHECARY'S face.
BEAT. The rattle of a latch chain and the door swings open.
Standing in the doorway is The Apothecary. Sixty something,
he has a face scarred with age and abuse.
APOTHECARY
My poverty, but not my will consents.
CLOSE ON: Romeo.
ROMEO
I pay thy poverty and not thy will.
INT. PRESBYTERY. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: Father Laurence. He speaks into the telephone
with concern.
FATHER LAURENCE
Who bore my letter then to Romeo?
INT. SPEED EXPRESS DEPOT. NIGHT.
A bored clerk is on the other end of the line. The priest's
letter is on the counter beside him.
CLERK
I could not sent it - here it is
again.
INT. PRESBYTERY. NIGHT.
Father Laurence is worried.
FATHER LAURENCE
By my brotherhood, unhappy fortune!
The letter was of dear import.
(PAUSE: the priest listens)
Adieu.
He hangs up the receiver and looks at the wall clock.
FATHER LAURENCE (CONT.)
Now must I to the monument alone.
Within this hour will fair Juliet
awake.
DISSOLVE FROM: The clock to...
INT. APOTHECARY'S APARTMENT. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: A cat skitters across a stained formica table.
PULL BACK: The Apothecary's apartment is filled with cats.
Dozens of feline eyes glow in the dim room. Romeo stands
nervously. The Apothecary extracts a small chemist's vial
from inside a 'Statue of Our Lady' table lamp - he now
speaks with cool professionalism.
APOTHECARY
Drink it off and if you had the
strength of twenty men it would
dispatch you straight.
Romeo takes the vial and hands over the money.
ROMEO
There is my gold - worse poison to
men's souls
Than these poor compounds that thou
mayst not sell.
INT. BALTHASAR'S CAR. NIGHT.
Motor running, Balthasar waits in the alley outside the
apartment building. He checks the rear view mirror and
freezes. At the end of the alleyway a police car crawls to
a halt.
EXT. ALLEYWAY. NIGHT.
Romeo exits the building, and as he does so, the streetlight
catches his face. The Cop's and Romeo's eyes meet.
INT. POLICE CAR. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: The cop.
COP
This is that banished haughty
Montague.
INT. BALTHASAR'S CAR.
Balthasar cracks; he guns the engine and the car lurches
forward.
EXT. ALLEYWAY. NIGHT.
Tires screech as Romeo dives into the passenger seat of
Balthasar's moving vehicle.
Siren blaring, the police car gives chase.
AERIAL SHOT. NIGHT.
Balthasar's car winds through traffic - the patrol car
gaining.
EXT. ANOTHER PART OF TOWN. NIGHT.
A police car U-turns over a median strip.
EXT. BALTHASAR'S CAR. NIGHT.
TIGHT ON: A rusted brown hood.
The tortured engine screams as Balthasar negotiates the
speeding car through city traffic.
CRANE UP: Red and blue police light approach fast.
INT. PRECINCT OFFICE. NIGHT.
Captain Prince barrels through the corridors of police
headquarters pulling on his flying jacket.
EXT. STREET. NIGHT.
TIGHT ON: A smoking tire as it lays rubber to the asphalt.
Balthasar grits his teeth as he weaves the car through the
impossibly tight space between a container truck and a bus.
WHIP PAN: The patrol car is almost upon them when... in a
seemingly suicidal manoeuvre Balthasar throws his car into a
right-angle turn across four lanes of oncoming traffic.
Horns blare.
CUT TO: A skidding, squealing, out of control sedan, braking
to avoid collision.
Miraculously, Balthasar's vehicle shoots out of it its path
and onto the other side of the roadway.
The sedan slams into the following patrol car.
EXT. DRIVEWAY. NIGHT.
Balthasar's car speeds into the driveway of the Verona Beach
Eternal Rest Cemetery.
INT. CHOPPER. NIGHT.
Captain Prince scans the night time city below. He speaks
to the pilot and the chopper banks sharply.
EXT. CEMETERY. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: A stone angel etched against the night sky.
PAN DOWN: Romeo pulls a crowbar from the trunk of the parked
car. Police sirens sound in the distance.
Romeo eyes Balthasar intently.
ROMEO
Upon thy life, whatever thou
HEAREST
Or seest, stand all aloof. Give me
the light -
Balthasar stands motionless - Romeo rips the torch from his
hands and strides into the cemetery. Balthasar follows.
BALTHASAR
I do beseech you...
Romeo turns, punching Balthasar hard; he goes down, blood
spurting from his nose.
ROMEO
Do not interrupt me in my course or
By heaven I will tear thee joint by
JOINT
And strew this hungry churchyard
with thy limbs!
Balthasar slowly rises. Both boys are trying hard not to cry.
ROMEO (CONT.)
The time and my intents are savage
wild,
More fierce and more inexorable far
Than empty tigers or the roaring sea.
BALTHASAR
I will be gone and not trouble ye.
Romeo smiles.
ROMEO
So shalt thou show me friendship.
They embrace as Romeo whispers.
ROMEO (CONT.)
Live, and be prosperous; and
farewell, good fellow.
EXT. MAUSOLEUM. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: A crowbar wrenches at ornate glass and iron doors.
PULL BACK: The Gothic structure of the mausoleum rears
against the night sky. Romeo frenziedly attacks the gates
of the small side chapel.
ROMEO
Thou detestable maw, thou womb of
death,
Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to
open.
With a final heave the doors scrape open.
Silence.
ROMEO'S P.O.V.: An endless marble corridor lit by hundreds
of tiny flickering eternal flames.
CLOSE ON: Romeo. He murmurs:
ROMEO
In despite I'll cram thee with more
food.
Suddenly a hurricane wind and whirr of machinery: like a
huge black insect, Captain Prince's chopper swoops down over
the mausoleum.
Romeo is caught in the glare of the chopper's burning arc
light. Sirens scream, police units race through the cemetery.
Blinded, Romeo fires wildly toward the chopper.
The police cars screech to a halt.
CLOSE ON: A police marksman in the chopper. His finger
squeezes the rifle trigger.
BANG! A bullet slams into Romeo's shoulder. The other cops
open fire and Romeo is sent reeling backwards into the
mausoleum in a fusillade of bullets.
INT. CHOPPER. NIGHT.
An angry Captain Prince bellows into the radio.
CAPTAIN PRINCE
Hold! Hold!
The police hold their fire.
INT. MAUSOLEUM. NIGHT.
Bleeding from the shoulder wound, Romeo drags shut the heavy
double doors of the chapel. He bangs off three shots
through a pane of broken glass and screams at the police.
ROMEO
Stand all aloof!
EXT. MAUSOLEUM. NIGHT.
Outside the chopper hovers. Police take up siege positions.
Captain Prince's voice echoes through the bullhorn.
CAPTAIN PRINCE
Romeo, come forth, come forth.
INT. MAUSOLEUM. NIGHT.
Romeo uses the crowbar to wedge the doors shut. He bangs
off another shot as he yells out at the Police.
ROMEO
Tempt not a desperate man!
Romeo waits. There is no response from the cops.
INT. CHOPPER. NIGHT.
As the chopper settles to earth, Captain Prince speaks into
the radio.
CAPTAIN PRINCE
Bring forth these enemies Montague
and Capulet.
INT. PRIEST'S CAR. NIGHT.
Orange rescue lights reflect through the windshield of the
priest's car as it crawls past the crashed sedan and police
vehicle.
Father Laurence thumps the steering wheel in frustration.
FATHER LAURENCE
Saint Francis be my speed tonight!
Across the road Police swarm around the entrance to the
cemetery.
FATHER LAURENCE
Fear comes upon me.
O, much I fear some ill unthrifty
thing.
HOLD ON: The green glow of the car clock as the seconds
pulse away.
INT. MAUSOLEUM. NIGHT.
TRACK: Down the marble corridor lit by the eternal flames.
DISCOVER: Romeo. He weakly stands at the entrance to the
viewing chapel.
The chapel is dark.
As Romeo's eyes adjust he can just see, picked out by a
shaft of blue moonlight, the glowing figure of a sleeping
girl. He moves down the aisle past the tombs of long-dead
Capulets.
Romeo is close now. He halts as if in the presence of an
unbelievable vision. He lights a match and the room glows
gold. The warm light reveals a Juliet even more beautiful
in seeming death.
Romeo lights some of the hundreds of candles that surround
her.
ROMEO
O my love, my wife,
Death, that hath sucked the honey
of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy
beauty,
Thou art not conquered. Beauty's
ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy
cheeks,
And death's pale flag is not
advanced there.
Romeo kneels close, as if not wanting to wake a sleeping
child. Unconscious tears fall from his eyes as he whispers.
ROMEO (CONT.)
Ah, dear Juliet, why art thou yet
so fair?
Shall I believe that unsubstantial
DEATH
Is amorous and keeps thee here in
DARK
To be his paramour? For fear of
THAT
I still will stay with thee. Here,
oh here
Will I set up my everlasting rest
And shake the yoke of inauspicious
STARS
From this world-wearied flesh.
He lays himself close.
ROMEO (CONT.)
Eyes, look your last.
Arms, take your last embrace. And,
lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a
righteous kiss...
Gently Romeo kisses Juliet's lips. Ever so slightly,
Juliet's hand moves - Romeo does not notice.
ROMEO (CONT.)
A dateless bargain to engrossing
death.
Romeo drinks from the vial; the power of the compound is
immediate. He convulses and falls, his head resting on
Juliet.
ROMEO (CONT.)
(fighting for breath)
O true apothecary, thy drugs are
quick.
Behind Romeo's head we can see Juliet's eyes opening. Romeo
sucks the last few breaths of life into his lungs. Through
a blurry consciousness Juliet becomes aware of Romeo.
JULIET
Oh Romeo, what's here?
Forcing herself up, she cradles his head in her arms.
Romeo's clear wide eyes stare back, he is completely still
but for the sound of weak breaths desperately drawn across
motionless lips.
Juliet finds the vial clenched in Romeo's hand. Tears slip
from her eyes.
JULIET (CONT.)
Drunk all, and left
No friendly drop to help me after.
I will kiss thy lips.
Haply some poison yet doth hang on
THEM
To make me die with a restorative.
She delicately kisses Romeo's lips.
JULIET (CONT.)
(a heart-broken whisper)
Thy lips are warm.
Desperately the lovers cling to each other. With all his
desire to stay alive, Romeo whispers:
ROMEO
Thus with a kiss I die.
There is no breath. He is still. Silence. Sobbing, Juliet
hugs the lifeless Romeo to her.
JULIET
Romeo. O' my true love Romeo.
She looks to the gun in his hand.
EXT. MAUSOLEUM. NIGHT.
TRACK: Quickly past Captain Prince and the Capulets taking
cover behind a patrol car.
Two police officers urgently convey Montague and his wife
toward them.
Discover Father Laurence arriving.
CUT TO: Father Laurence's P.O.V.: Patrol cars, lights
flashing, surround the mausoleum.
He sees, through the open door of a police car, a hand-
cuffed youth. It is Balthasar. Father Laurence hurries to
him.
It is dawning on Father Laurence.
FATHER LAURENCE
Balthasar?
BALTHASAR
(DESPERATELY)
I brought news of Juliet's death...
And then in post came Romeo from
MANTUA
To this same place... to this same
monument.
CLOSE ON: Father Laurence.
FATHER LAURENCE
How long hath he been there?
BALTHASAR
Full half an hour.
Father Laurence turns towards the mausoleum.
FATHER LAURENCE
Romeo.
(a shock of realisation)
The lady stirs...
INT. MAUSOLEUM. NIGHT.
TRACK SLOW TOWARD: Juliet: Sobbing uncontrollably she prises
the gun from Romeo's hand.
EXT. MAUSOLEUM. NIGHT.
Father Laurence, desperate, breaks through the police line
and runs toward the mausoleum.
CUT TO: The parents and Captain Prince.
CAPTAIN PRINCE
Hold! Go not forth!
INT. MAUSOLEUM. NIGHT.
Juliet turns the gun on herself.
EXT. MAUSOLEUM. NIGHT.
CLOSE ON: Father Laurence, he screams as he mounts the
mausoleum stairs.
FATHER LAURENCE
The lady stirs!
CRACK! The sound of a single gun shot rips through the night.
CUT TO: Captain Prince.
CUT TO: The parents, a look of cold shock.
CUT TO: The priest - his cry echoes through the night.
INT. MAUSOLEUM. NIGHT.
Juliet lies peacefully on Romeo's chest. Her eyes awake. A
wash of deep red blood floods across them both. As we move
away from the forms of the two young lovers lit by a ring of
candles, the police burst in, guns ready to resolve what has
already been resolved. Continuing up, we pass through the
glass dome of the viewing chapel, and over the building.
EXT. MAUSOLEUM. NIGHT.
There, huddled at the base of the Mausoleum steps, are the
Montague and Capulet parents and Father Laurence.
From high up we see Captain Prince emerge from the Mausoleum
and speak to the group. A moment, then their cries float
gently up.
EXT. SKY. NIGHT.
We are travelling high into the sky now. The cries of the
parents and the buzz of radio calls fade to nothing.
EXT. VERONA BEACH STREET - CHRIST ROUNDABOUT-FROM AIR. DAWN.
As the sun struggled to rise, we push toward the figure of
Jesus silently surveying the city.
EXT. VERONA BEACH - CHRIST ROUNDABOUT. DAWN.
As Jesus' face fills the screen, droplets of water begin to
streak his cheeks.
HOLD: Music swells; the droplets grow to a torrent, and a
heavy rain begins to fall.
For a long beat, we stay with this image.
CRANE DOWN: From the Jesus. A sea of black umbrellas
stretches back from the steps of Freedom Tower.
EXT. FREEDOM TOWER. DAY.
At the top of the steps are a pair of flower strewn caskets.
Before the caskets stand Fulgencia and Gloria Capulet, and
Ted and Caroline Montague. They stare with blank,
uncomprehending sorrow.
Among the crowd we see the distraught faces of Benvolio,
Balthasar, Father Laurence and the Nurse.
The caskets are gently slid into a pair of long black cars.
Montague and Capulet descend the stairs. Captain Prince
blocks their path. He holds them in his gaze.
CAPTAIN PRINCE
See what a scourge is laid upon
your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill
your joys with love;
And I, for winking at your discords
too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All
are punished.
The Prince steps aside. The procession moves off. Montague
and Capulet look to one another, a moment, and then the two
adversaries together follow the bodies of their dead children.
AERIAL SHOT: The rain falls. Two black cars lead the people
of Verona Beach in a sorrowful parade.
As the cars pass beneath the towering effigy of Jesus, the
image pixilates into a television picture.
PULL OUT: A TV anchor woman watches the image on a studio
monitor.
She turns:
ANCHOR WOMAN
(to camera)
A glooming peace this morning with
it brings:
The sun for sorrow will not show
his head.
Go hence, to have more talk of
these sad things.
Some shall be pardoned, and some
punished,
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
The anchor woman changes beat to the next story; but her
dialogue fades, and her image gets smaller as the television
recedes into a black distance.
The music that reminds us most of these two lost lives
swells. When the television is very small it is switched off.
BLACK SCREEN. HOLD A BEAT.
THE END
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