Romeo-Juliet

Infobox Film
name = Romeo-Juliet


caption =
director = Armando Acosta
producer = Paul Hespiel (exec. prod.), Andree Castagnee (ass.), Paul Celis (ass.), Greet Ooms (ass.)
writer = Armando Acosta, Koen Van Brabant, Victor Spinetti
starring = John Hurt, Robert Powell, Francesca Annis, Vanessa Redgrave, Ben Kingsley, Maggie Smith, Victor Spinetti, John Haggart
music = Armando Acosta, Emanuel Verdi
cinematography = Armando Acosta
editing = Jan Reniers, Armando Acosta
distributor = Loeb & Loeb
released =
runtime = 130 minutes
country = Belgium
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:226823
imdb_id = 0100512

"Romeo-Juliet" is the title of a 1990 film version of William Shakespeare's classic play Romeo and Juliet. It was made by American producer and director Armando Acosta, using the feral cats of Venice, New York, and Ghent as actors, with the voices dubbed by some of the greats of the English theatre. The film was made as a filmed concert. The score of the film included music from Serge Prokofiev's and Emanuel Verdi's music for Romeo and Juliet, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under conductors Barry Wordsworth and Andre Previn.

The story of this film revolves around an eccentric bag lady (played by John Hurt) who takes the cats of Venice and puts them on a boat to set sail for the new world.

The film is described as having been difficult to produce, requiring over 200 hours of footage of the feline cast to assemble the images for the final film. It is also remarkable for being one of the few major releases in which several members of the production team gave up their salaries to produce the film. [http://film.guardian.co.uk/Guardian_NFT/interview/0,4479,214857,00.html#article_continue] It has not been re-released for the home video market. This lack of availability, which has been described as making it "more rare than the dinosaur". [http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A391WEZRT6OR6O] This lack of availability has made it a sought-after item in some circles.

References

*Andrew, Geoff. [http://film.guardian.co.uk/Guardian_NFT/interview/0,4479,214857,00.html#article_continue "John Hurt interviewed by Geoff Andrew", The Guardian Unlimited]
*Jacobs, Patricia A. [http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A391WEZRT6OR6O Amazon.com review of video "Incredible World of Cats"]
* [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809389322/info Netflix information on Romeo-Juliet]
* [http://www.flanders-image.com/index.php?col=/product&doc=586&title=Romeo%20And%20Juliet Flanders Image page on Romeo-Juliet]