William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is an Academy Award nominated 1996 American movie adaptation of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet. It was directed by Australian Baz Luhrmann and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the title roles.
The movie is a version of Shakespeare's play designed to appeal to a younger modern audience. It is set in present-day fictional Verona Beach, Florida, but uses the style of language from the original novel. The fighting families (the Montagues and the Capulets) are represented as competing business empires, swords are replaced by guns etc. Despite the adaptation, the movie retains Shakespeare's original dialogue, though edited for modern cinema audiences.