“I love that Juliet and Romeo are side characters in this,” actress Isabela Merced (Father of the Bride) laughed about her role in the new 20th Century Studios film Rosaline. The film gives Shakespeare’s tragedy a romantic comedy twist, telling the story from the perspective of the girl Romeo dumped when he met Juliet. “We get to see them in scenes and settings that are outside of their isolated relationship. You get to see Romeo flirting with other women, you get to see Juliet doing other things and finding herself.”
(20th Century Studios)
The cast of Rosaline recently regrouped for a press conference to promote the film, which streams worldwide on Friday, October 14th (on Hulu in the U.S., on Star+ in Latin America, and on Disney+ in other territories). “The script was sent to me, and I was told that Kaitlyn was attached to play the lead,” director Karen Maine (Starstruck) shared, who was eager to work with Kaitlyn Dever and a fan of screenwriters Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter, who co-wrote (500) Days of Summer together. “The idea to set it in classic Renaissance period with this modern language and the modern sensibilities and themes create this perfect juxtaposition of old and new that really nailed the comedy and let it shine.” The film looks like a period piece, but incorporates modern ideals, language, and music. Contemporary hits by Robyn, Celine Dion, and Enrique Iglesias are recreated using Renaissance instrumentation and female singers. “I wanted the film to have this very strong female undercurrent in the music. And the composers we worked with, Ian and Sofia Hultquist, Sophia lent her vocals to a lot of the score as well. So, there's this beautiful female presence that stands in for Rosaline's mind and what she's thinking, and really helps solidify her narrative and her story and her psyche. We recorded everything with real instruments in New York, and it was a beautiful experience.”
“Rosaline, she exists in the original story, but we don't know much about her, so I really got to create my own Rosaline,” Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart, Dopesick) revealed about being drawn to the project before it even had a director (she also serves as a producer). “The character that I sort of created with Karen was something that we felt like you could go for it in so many ways. And I think that on the daily, I was having so much fun with the role. I appreciated and admired her determination and her fearlessness and her drive. But just playing up the comedy, the writing is so brilliant, it was really easy to kind of go there. It was so easy to have the most fun and just be sort of outrageous sometimes, and sarcastic and comedic with this whole cast. It was really, really fun.”
Playing Romeo, Rosaline’s one-time lover, is Kyle Allen. “I come from the dance world, and they actually recreate a lot of Shakespeare plays as ballet,” the actor shared, who appeared in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story as a Shark and once audititoned to play Mercutio in a San Francisco ballet production of Romeo and Juliet. “Romeo would fall in love with a stick if you'd let him,” Kyle laughed about this version of the character. “He's completely obsessed with the concept and the idea of love. And other than that, that's pretty much the entirety of his personality. He doesn't have much else going on.”
(20th Century Studios)
“The movie is so well written and so well performed that you can get feelings out of it that you can place in so many other pictures,” shared Sean Teale (The Gifted) who plays Dario, a new character who is everything that Romeo isn’t. “There was one scene that Kaitlyn and I have that was really 10 things I Hate About You-ey in that sort of abrasive nature,” he added. Fun fact: 10 Things I Hate About You was a contemporary reimagining of another Shakespeare play, The Taming of the Shrew. “I grew up watching medieval comedies, you know, The Princess Bride, anything Cary Elwes did. I watched Robin Hood: Men in Tights way more times than I should have. And so, when I was thinking about Dario, and I was like, he's quite cool, but I'm a bit goofy, really. I just try to be a bit silly like Cary would be.”
Diehard Romeo and Juliet fans will remember Paris, the wealthy suitor Juliet’s father betroths her to while she is secretly falling in love with a Montague. “Paris is still a count in this, he's still bougie,” promised actor Spencer Stevenson (Rollers), who portrays Paris as an obvious homosexual and proposes marriage to Juliet solely as a favor to his bestie, Rosaline. “Getting to Italy was a whole journey because when I booked the role, I did not have a passport. And I needed like a week to get there. So, I ended up getting my passport, like, on Thursday and got on a plane on Saturday. It was intense. It was my first time leaving the country…. I got to spend two months with these lovely people and learned so much from everyone. And Paris is so much like me, so it was kinda like just playing dress-up and having fun. It was so much fun, and I think that's what everyone needs right now.”
“It was the worst part at drama school,” joked Minnie Driver (Speechless) about her role as the nurse, who goes back-and-forth between Rosaline and Juliet in the film. A star of both stage and screen, Minnie Driver had experience with Romeo and Juliet prior to joining Rosaline, albeit not a positive one. “I was invited by the National Theater of Great Britain, which is a huge theater. We didn't know that it was a giant audition for Romeo and Juliet. We thought we were just there to do a study group. And I was the first person to get up. And I did the balcony scene. And Richard Eyre, he was the autistic director, at the end, he was like, ‘That was so great because it's really important to see how not to do it. Every pitfall that you fell into are pitfalls that actors fall into with this role. So, good job. You can sit down now.’ And it was the most humiliating experience, but he was not wrong. And I can recite the balcony speech in my sleep.”
(20th Century Studios)
“Rosaline is a lot sometimes,” summed up Kaitlyn Dever. “We did have Karen there as a constant guide. And she's so good with direction and allowing us to feel free in that. And I think that this story really calls for that. I was just saying to Sean earlier, because I felt very settled in this story and with this cast. That's the best feeling you can have. And I think it really translated in the movie.”
You can see 20th Century Studios’ Rosaline streaming on Friday, October 14th on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America, and Disney+ in all other territories.