A Time for More R&J

Pardon our hiatus, friends. But, we have the perfect way to make it up to you. Cross our hearts and everything. Brace yourselves, because this news is pretty fantastic...

THE NEW ROMEO & JULIET TRAILER IS HERE!!!!!

If you, like us, still swoon for a well-done Shakespeare adaptation, then you're probably giddy with excitement. However, there is one slight problem: the new R&J is standing alongside other power hitters. How can it possibly be as good as some of its illustrious predecessors?

Remember Franco Zeffirelli's lush, achingly beautiful 1968 Romeo & Juliet? God, that movie was great. Zeffirelli used young actors to depict the star-crossed lovers in order to add to the sense of authenticity and faithfulness that he painstakingly brought to every aspect of the film. (The young age of the actors made the sexxxy scenes not just awkward, but legally risky.)

Confession time: Yankee Belle spent an embarrassing amount of hours watching (again and again and again and again) Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo in Baz Luhrman's divisive adaptation/updating until her VHS tape wore out. (We say the film was brill; but haters gonna hate, especially when Elizabethan drama finds its way to the mean, flashy streets of Verona, CA). Luhrman's R+J was hip and edgy. It had drugs! It had drag queens! It had Toulouse-Lautrec as a full-sized person John Leguizamo in an expertly-acted dramatic role! IT HAD LEO! (Oh, and Claire Danes, too; but Beth March does not a Capulet make...) But, seriously, how hot did he look??

And, really, how badass was this poster??

So, as you can see, the new Romeo and Juliet has to forge its own way in a crowded pool of adaptations. This seems like an impossible task.

Fear not, friends, Romans, countrymen: Julian Fellowes-- yes, the very same Julian Fellowes who brought Cousin Matthew and Tom the Sexy Irishman and Maggie Smith's zingers into our lives-- "wrote" the screenplay to this new and very exciting movie version of William Shakespeare's most beloved masterpiece. And, boy, does this film have wattage! Douglas Booth plays the always-falling-in-love Romeo, while Hailee Steinfeld-- who turned many heads, including those of your devoted bloggers, with her impressive acting in 2010's True Grit-- is his Juliet. Plus, there's Damien Lewis, Paul Giamatti, and Chuck-freaking-Bass himself, Ed Westwick. Yes, we're not too worried.

So without further ado, we give you the Romeo & Juliet trailer.