It's been 30 years since Leonardo locked eyes with through the Capulet mansion's fish tank in nineties take on Shakespeare's most famous love affair.
This week marks the 30th anniversary of Romeo + Juliet, the movie adaptation of the Bard's play.
Whilst the movie grossed $147 million at the global box office, the critics weren't enamoured with one infamous 1996 review declaring it was 'destined for the trash heap of Shakespeare adaptations'.
Over the past 30 years though the film has earned cult status, and changed the minds of many of its original critics, leading to movie theatres worldwide re-releasing the film for celebratory screenings this month.
The production itself could have come straight from Shakespeare's quill, with the film rife with real life drama including an on set kidnapping and feuding romantic leads.
Here's everything you didn't know about the most famous Shakespeare play-to -screen adaptation.
It's been 30 years since Leonardo DiCaprio locked eyes with Claire Danes through the Capulet mansion's fishtank and Baz Luhrmann reimagined Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet
Natalie Portman was meant to play Juliet
Claire Danes landed her first leading film role in Romeo + Juliet, but her part was the hardest role to cast.
In the play Juliet is just 13-years-old and Luhrmann and his team initially considered casting Natalie Portman, 13 at the time, in the role.
Amid an exhaustive casting process Natalie was actually hired and even filmed some scenes with Leo, who had been attached to the movie from the very beginning.
It was decided though that her casting opposite 21-year-old Leonardo was problematic.
In a 1996 interview, Natalie explained: 'It was a complicated situation and it had to do with at the time I was 13 and Leonardo was 21 and it wasn't appropriate in the eyes of the film company or the director Baz.'
'And it was kind of a mutual decision that it just wasn't going to be right at the time and I think the film came out really, really beautifully and Claire did a really, really beautiful job. It just wasn't the right time, you know?'
In a New York Times interview the same year she added: 'Fox said it looked like Leonardo DiCaprio was molesting me when we kissed.'
The story goes that Luhrmann decided to cast Leo when he saw a paparazzi picture of him and said, 'Now that's what Romeo should look like'
The age of Juliet proved to be the biggest casting stumbling block. It was Jane Campion, director of The Piano, who suggested Claire, who was 17 at the time of the shoot, after being impressed with her performance in cult TV show My So-Called Life.
Luhrmann told Vpro Cinema: 'We saw so many young female players, many who are famous today... and then Jane Campion said to me, 'Have you seen this girl on My So-Called Life?'
'And she said, 'She's so mature for her age', so I met her and it was amazing. I met Claire Danes and what was great was although she was still very young, like Juliet, she was wise beyond her years.'
Baz Luhrmann didn't know who Leo was
The director was equally discerning when it came to casting his Romeo. Luckily he quickly found his male lead.
The story goes that Luhrmann decided to cast Leo when he saw a paparazzi picture of him and said, 'Now that's what Romeo should look like', but he presumed he was a musician.
Once he'd discovered Leo could act, the director was hooked, gushing: 'I couldn't think of anyone who embodied what he embodied. I mean, there's the physical essence, the physical representation, but more importantly... he had such an innate ability to take the language, stay within the iambic but also embrace it and make it his own.'
Despite their onscreen chemistry rumours swirled for years that Leo and Claire were less than taken with other on set, and would ignore each other; Pictured at the movie's 1996 premiere
Marlon Brando was almost Father Laurence instead of Pete Postlethwaite
Alongside his two relatively unknown leads, Luhrmann wanted some star power, approacting Marlon Brando to play the small but vital role of Father Laurence.
Unfortunately production coincided with the conviction of Brando's son for voluntary manslaughter in the death of his half-sister Cheyenne's boyfriend and the subsequent suicide of Cheyenne.
'The last letter I got from him came at the time of his son's involvement in that criminal activity,' Luhrmann later recalled. 'It said, 'Dear Baz, I can no longer consider playing the role of Father Laurence. I've got personal family problems' – which was an understatement.'
Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio's on set 'feud
Despite their onscreen chemistry rumours swirled for years that Leo and Claire were less than taken with other on set, and would ignore each other between takes.
The rumours were not helped by the fact that after wrapping the film Claire turned down another role opposite Leo - Kate Winslet's part in 1997's Titanic.
Years later Claire explained why the pair kept their distance, admitting at 17 she had a big crush on her older co-star.
'There was definitely a spark, but I don't think either of us knew how to handle it, she told Glamour. 'So we sometimes sort of ignored each other. It was too big for us to really accept.'
Luhrmann took months to find his Juliet, revealing how 'we saw so many young female players, many who are famous today... and then Jane Campion said to me, 'Have you seen this girl on My So-Called Life?'. Pictured; Dicaprio, Luhrmann and Danes on set
Miriam Margolyes, who played The Nurse in the movie, claimed in her 2021 book that Claire was 'infatuated' with Leonardo at the time but he didn't reciprocate her feelings, and was 'dismissive' of her.
'It was obvious to all of us that she really was in love with her Romeo, but Leonardo wasn't in love with her. She wasn't his type at all. He didn't know how to cope with her evident infatuation,' wrote Miriam.
'He wasn't sensitive to her feelings, was dismissive of her and could be quite nasty in his keenness to get away, while Claire was utterly sincere and so open. 'It was painful to watch,' the actress admitted.
The movie's lead hair stylist was kidnapped
Luhrmann re-envisioned the play's Verona setting in Mexico City and Veracruz, but the location threw up plenty of challenges.
Aside from a hurricane blowing away parts of the set and the cast being struck down by multiple illnesses, there was major offscreen drama when the movie's main hairdresser was kidnapped.
Aldo Signoretti was taken, but the kidnappers agreed to give him back in an exchange for a $300 ransom.
'The bandidos rang up and said for $300 you can have him back,' Luhrmann recalled.
The film's makeup artist Maurizio Silvi was sent to the agreed location on what the director referred to as an 'incredible quest' where the kidnappers threw Signoretti out of their car and broke his leg once the money was thrown over.
Signoretti wasn't put off from working with Luhrmann again though, going on to collaborate with the director and his makeup artist rescuer Silvi on Moulin Rouge, for which he earned his first Oscar.
Luhrmann made the bold choice to relocate the film's famous balcony scene to a swimming pool, which was filled with unheated water so that the actors' skin wouldn't turn red
The pool scene was one of the toughest to shoot
Romeo and Juliet's first meeting comes after a fish tank meetcute, with Luhrmann revealing that the iconic scene was inspired by a similar set up he saw whilst partying in a Miami nightclub.
But for his lead stars it was another water-based scene that really tested them during the shoot.
Luhrmann made the bold choice to relocate the film's famous balcony scene to a swimming pool, which was filled with unheated water so that the actors' skin wouldn't turn red.
'Really both of them were quite fearless; they tended to do everything themselves,' Luhrmann recalled. 'It was quite the nightmare of getting in and out, and then we had diving shots, and so it's a whole lot of crazy, mechanical work to create a moment that seems intimate and beautiful and romantic.'
The freezing and complicated logistics weren't helped by the fact Claire was wearing a wig for the shoot.
Leo's famous co-star helped him land Titanic role
The film is stuffed with familar faces from British acting legends Miriam Margolyes and Pete Postlethwaite to rising star Paul Rudd.
And it was thanks to Paul that Leo went on to star in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic, cementing his nineties heartthrob status.
Paul, whose late father, Michael Rudd, was a dedicated Titanic historian and expert, claimed he helped to convince Leo to take the now iconic role during a cast night out.
During an interview on The Graham Norton Show Paul recalled how 'we all went out to a bar… I was riding to the place with Leo and he said, 'I just got offered this movie and it's a big movie.''
'He was saying, 'Well, I don't know what I'll do,' and I remember saying, 'You should do it.''
The film runs for exactly two hours
In line with the prologue, which states: 'Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage,' Luhrmann kept his edit to a tight 120 minutes.
The Montague and Capulet swords were swapped for guns but each firearm was named after more traidtional weapons. Some characters carry a 'Dagger' 9mm, while others have a 'Rapier'
Shakespeare references
Whilst Luhrmann updated and tinkered with details of Shakespeare's play he did hide multiple references and Easter Eggs dedicated to the Bard.
The Montague and Capulet swords were swapped for guns but each firearm was named after more traidtional weapons.
Some characters carry a 'Dagger' 9mm, while others have a 'Rapier.' Benvolio fired a 'Sword Series S' handgun whilst Tybalt's pistol was engraved with 'Rapier'.
In addition every sign seen in the movie has a sneaky Shakespeare reference. One which reads 'add more fuel to your fire' is a reference to Henry VI, Part 3.
The Capulet family business tagline 'Experience is by industry achiev'd' is from The Two Gentleman of Verona and the Montague's 'Retail'd to posterity' is from Richard III.
