It's really quite a shame that Leonard Whiting, the Romeo of my dreams, did not go on to star in much after his role in Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 Shakespeare adaptation. The movie made young Jr. high girls hot and bothered for decades, every time it was played in English class.
As Zeffirelli said of his casting decision: “He has a magnificent face, gentle melancholy, sweet, the kind of idealistic young man Romeo ought to be.”
As opposed to what I say of Leonardo Dicaprio as Romeo: “He has a bloated face, gentle whininess, drunk, the kind of celebrity that Romeo ought not to be.”
I know, I'm being harsh, and probably showing my ag–I'm sure the next generation of Jr. high girls in english class with be equally in love with the updated version. Still my heart belongs to Whiting.
But what do you think?