Shakespeare’s Song: Timothy Scott Bogart for JULIET & ROMEO

Love never dies

In the wake of Wicked, Shakespeare is about to see a similar makeover courtesy of director Timothy Scott Bogart. Injected with a pop high school musical chique, Juliet & Romeo is a new spin on the legendary love story in which the eponymous characters defy the long-standing feud between their respective families the Montagues and Capulets and, without spoiling too much, sets out to break the familiar beats of an otherwise tragic story. Bogart took time out ahead of the film’s release to discuss his family affair…

In terms of production, this seems a genuine family affair. Has the idea been percolating for a while now with your brothers?

Having the chance to work with family is just beyond special, and it’s something I’ve been blessed to do throughout my career. But it’s not just creating the music with my younger brother, Evan, or having my other younger brother, Brad, producing with us — but my daughter, Quinn, a recent NYU Grad, was also my Second Unit Director on this one. She worked with me side by side for nearly a year in Italy and it was the greatest gift a father could ever have! The film simply wouldn’t have been the same without them all. 

Writer/director Timothy Scott Bogart.

As for the origin, having directed Romeo and Juliet on stage a number of times, it was always something I believed had more story buried within it to tell, and I had spent years exploring a new way into the tale. Having worked with Evan on a number of music projects in the past, I remember asking him why he thought Shakespeare had used Iambic Pentameter in his time; and he had responded, so simply in that it was the poetry of their time.  And then looking at me with a smile, highlighted that Pop Music had become the poetry of our time. That simple statement is so remarkably inspiring.  That really was when it all started to come together.

Aside from being a love story, I’m interested to hear what attracted you to creating a Shakespeare musical and, considering all of the other material, specifically reimagining Romeo and Juliet.

It is undeniable that the characters and themes of Romeo and Juliet have permeated virtually all parts of life, for literally hundreds of years. The essence of young people struggling against a world around them, that doesn’t understand them, hasn’t changed since Shakespeare first told his version of this story in the late 1500s to late 1600s. So, I have always been fascinated by how powerfully resonant these ideas are and I have always pushed myself to try and understand why. 

“The essence of young people struggling against a world around them, that doesn’t understand them, hasn’t changed since Shakespeare first told his version of this story...”

— Timothy Scott Bogart

With each stage version I directed, I was always looking for ways to push the relatability of it all, as far as I could. And yet, there are elements of the original play that always felt there was more behind the story that just wasn’t being told. I had always been fascinated with what the real world would have been like at the time, and these themes just kept challenging me… and became a life’s work to explore it.

Ultimately, with the idea of using music as the inner thoughts and emotions of these characters — a way to capture the essence of inner voice; as Shakespeare had done with his text — just seemed wildly exciting and relevant!

A musical direction. Bogart on the set of JULIET & ROMEO in Italy.

Did West Side Story ever come up in conversation?

Absolutely! No question that Sondheim, Bernstein and Laurents wrote the most perfect adaptation of Shakespeare’s world that perhaps anyone ever has. And they also chose to do so through music.  A very different kind of music, sure — but it was their same instinct to capture that inner voice that was so groundbreaking. And their brilliant work inspired me from the start. But West Side Story moved the story to 1950s, New York, and changed the core elements to modernize it.  Our goal was to find that essence of modernisation but to stay true to the actual time and the world. That’s what we really believe sets us apart. This is the story of that town of Verona in 1301, and the dynamic events that were boiling over and threatening to destroy the entire region.

From Comedy to Tragedy... kinda. Rebel Wilson as Lady Capulet.

You have a wonderful cast ranging from thespians Derek Jacobi and Rupert Everet to Rebel Wilson and young stars Jamie Ward, Clara Rugaard and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo. Were most of the cast who you aimed for or were they simply attracted by the material?

Casting is literally everything. On every project. Every time. If you cast wrong, it just doesn’t matter whatever else you do — there’s just no real way back. But I also love taking risks in casting, as well — making choices that play people against type. Breaking out from the expectations their fans have of them. 

“Derek Jacobi is one of the greatest Shakespearian actors there’s ever been!”

— Timothy Scott Bogart

Rebel Wilson was a perfect example of that. Known for her comedic brilliance, casting her as Lady Capulet was as exciting a departure for her, as the vision of what she could bring to the role was for me. I believe Rebel just loved the creative approach to the story, loved the music… and really loved playing such a different role than she has been known for. 

On the other hand, Derek Jacobi is one of the greatest Shakespearian actors there’s ever been!  And yet, I’m not sure anyone else has ever asked him to rap in a movie! So, even Derek — as the Friar — was playing a different take than he’s ever done before. As for our younger stars, we held a worldwide casting call leading to flying in a handful of actors to screen test with us in Rome. The challenge there was who should be who! 

Between Jamie Ward as Romeo, Nicholas Podany as Mercutio and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo as Tybalt, their combination just felt explosively perfect. Then filling their worlds with Alex Grech as Tomasso, Max Parker as Benvolio and Zac Bellward as Leopold — we were able to build a completely relatable world for these young folks. And entering that world was the startling Clara Rugaard, bringing a different take to Juliet than I believe has ever been done before.

Were there any particular cinematic influences on the film, whether musical or non-musical?

Finding specific references for the film was remarkably hard. Historically, projects set during this period at the end of Medieval Times, have so often been very dark, and very grey, and just colourless! And yet, my vision for the world was one that would be bursting with colour and energy! Now, true, there was no electricity during this time — so any light source would have to be either from the sun, the moon or from fire!  It was a daunting task.

My DP, Byron Werner, and I watched anything and everything we could get our hands on —

from series like Game of Thrones to musicals like Sweeney Todd, Les Misérables and The Greatest Showman. Everything had something to offer but, more often than not, what we were envisioning had just not really been done.

We wanted to collide the worlds of colour, with the emotions of these characters — bringing it all to a sense of wonder — and a feast for the eyes and ears! And the truth is, most musicals that we studied were all too self-aware that they were musicals! And that’s not at all what we were after. We studied everything, we debated constantly — and ultimately — we took all that inspiration, and let it form the basis for what we were crafting — while exploring truly new approaches to the look of this world.

Were there any musicians/music (rather than musicals) you were tapping into for the musical numbers? Especially in attracting a specific audience or age group.

Creating the musicscape for the film was simply everything. From the very beginning, I had locked into this notion of pop music being the poetry of our time and the soul of these characters. So, from the start, I knew this could not come from a more traditional “musical team.” 

My brother, Evan, has been one of the most successful pop songwriters of his generation and I always knew I wanted him to lead the music creation. Working with his partner, Justin Gray, another phenomenal pop music writer and producer, the two oversaw the songs and the score — brilliantly creating a world that was driven by music. In a two-hour movie, I believe we have 1:55 of music!

What do you think it is that audiences find so endearing about this classic tale?

That’s such an important question, as some of those themes, have actually created significant discussion and pushback over the years. There’s always been the question of Juliet’s personal agency, and her own view of the world and place in it — versus being far more of an innocent, and far more passive a character who the events seem to happen to, instead of being driven by. And to be clear, this approach by Shakespeare is the beloved approach by fans around the world, so we had to be very careful with any departure. 

But Shakespeare based his own story on earlier explorations of these characters and themes going all the way back to historical records of who these characters really were and how their lives at the time really played out. From Juliet’s age, to where she had been prior to meeting Romeo, there are fascinating explorations into these themes and how, and why, they continue to be so relevant and resonant these hundreds of years later.

Ultimately, no matter what the approach to the story – the core driver has always been how these younger people viewed the world, versus how the world was viewed by the grownups! And that critical distinction about whose world this really is — is as potent now as it’s ever been. The themes of fate and family, love and sacrifice — self-determination, versus fated obligation — these ideas will simply always be relevant.

Why do you feel the material will resonate now?

It really is the honesty and authenticity of these core themes that haven’t changed over all these centuries. The key, I’ve always believed, is in not creating a distance between the characters and the audience by over perioding, the period. With all the design and costumes – it would be so easy to create a more removed piece — feeling like it really came from a different time. Our approach — from the very beginning — was staying honest to the time, but authentic to the themes… and the modernisation comes from that.

That which we call a rose. Clara Rugaard as Juliet.

There are some neat twists on the tale. When bringing stories to the screen that are so well known, how challenging is this, especially in justifying some of the decisions made to add a spin?

Hah! Well, I appreciate you appreciating some of those twists! But boy, every single one of them was painstakingly analyzed and struggled with, to ensure they had both real connective tissue back to the original events — as well as an understandable reason for being. We would never make a twist or change just for a twist or change’s sake!

But a deep analysis of Shakespeare’s text shows that he took different historical references to craft his own version — he did not adhere to one version over another — and there was a delicious diabolical alchemy between it all. And that’s what we did, as well.

Using Shakespeare’s text as the primary source, of course, we approached all of those choices from all the other prior authors of the tale — all through the prism of the wealth of other source material. Having directed the play on stage multiple times, I was acutely aware of some elements and character choices that I felt could be expanded on in a larger context piece.  And over the years I’ve constantly explored ways that could address some of those. But when you’re dealing with one of the most cherished stories ever written — any change could be viewed by some as blasphemous! And they’re certainly entitled to that opinion — because for some people, they really don’t want to see the text changed.

But what one would hope, is that from stage plays like “& Juliet” and Baz Luhrman’s version delivering these potential twists and turns has always been part of the language of exploring the tale… and we hope audiences come to this one with that same world view. We hope the twists that we’ve embraced — once fully experienced — will be additive to the experience and create another place where this story can still go.

Where do you feel the musical is at in terms of the current cinematic landscape?

It’s so interesting, that film Musicals seem to be consistently dismissed by people — pointing to one failed version or the other. And yet, every single year there are enormous breakouts coming from these Musicals! At a time when getting anyone to physically go into a movie theatre anymore demands an event — quite simply there is virtually no movie-going event as impactful as Musicals! Whether it was The Greatest Showman defying all expectations for its extraordinary success or this particular moment where Wicked and Emelia Perez — and even The Complete Unknown — have all captured the imagination of audiences around the world. Musicals have always been one of the most impactful genres and they are having a resurgence at the moment like I can’t quite remember before. Audiences want to be entertained — and they are demanding a level of entertainment like never before. Musicals have the ability to rise to that demand… and I believe their success will only continue to grow.

Through yonder window. Jamie Ward as Romeo.

I’m interested to hear how Evan approached the music. Were the songs being written alongside adapting the play and putting your spin on the story or produced first to write to?

The creation of the music took the most fascinating journey of all. It’s not just like me rewriting a dialogue line or scene — which is just me and my computer! The music demanded not just the concepts, but the creation and execution and there simply was no music without the movie — and no movie without the music.

From the start — while I was writing — I would discuss what I was going for with Evan. He and I would then workshop the ideas for the songs, while the scriptwriting was underway. Once we had the core structure, we would bring in some other songwriters to work with us and we set up a “songwriters’ room” in various studios. Evan and I would then bounce back and forth between the various sessions, continuing to hone and craft each idea.

“... we always designed this to be a living, evolving creation.”

— Timothy Scott Bogart

Ultimately, this created the core demos that we were able to use in the further preparation of the film. But then, as we started to cast the film, we would bring in each artist to start working on each song and we would adapt and revise, based on what we felt each actor was bringing to their part. With that, we had our pre-records… but that was only the beginning!

Evan, Justin and his music team were with us on the ground in Italy during the entire production — and would work daily with the film crew and the cast as we did “live capture” recordings of their vocals. But we always designed this to be a living, evolving creation — and we would literally be timing out how long it took to get the horse from point A to point B and we would suddenly need Evan and Justin to run back to their mobile studio on the mountainside, and re-craft the song to match the time the horse was taking!

But even then, there were moments while filming where I suddenly felt the need for another song or moment — and I’d literally pop into the music trailer at 3 am and say, “We need a song for the Apothecary and the Friar! And it needs to be our version of Les Miz’s “Master Of The House” — and, oh yeah — we will need to shoot this with Derek Jacobi and Dan Fogler next week… with choreography!”

And just like that, we’d be back into song-crafting in the middle of the night! It was the most exhilarating and terrifying experience to get right!

If a success do you see yourself continuing to turn other Shakespeare plays into modern musicals?

I don’t know that I’d tackle other Shakespeare plays, as I believe this one has such a global resonance with this younger audience that I don’t feel some of the others lend themselves to this approach as strongly. But Juliet & Romeo is designed as a trilogy! So, the plan is for two more! The way we’ve crafted the characters and the world creates a path into the events of that time that we have embraced as an exhilarating way to expand the world. There’s a lot more twists and turns and revelations in store!

What do you hope audiences get out of the film?

Fun! And an escape. And a relatable connection! Look, I simply adore film and I watch virtually everything. There are different films made for different audiences and different expectations, but the experience of having pure fun at the cinema has become harder and harder to have. While brilliant stories are being told year-round — so many of them are just darker — and even while exploring challenging themes — finding a way that the audience can enjoy those explorations is critical.

The world is undeniably a challenging place and being a young person trying to find your place in the world is perhaps the hardest journey of all. Everyone needs a boost. Everyone needs a smile. Everyone needs to laugh. And yeah, we all seem happier when we’re singing! Either at a theatre… or alone in our car! We hope we’ve created an experience to empower just that.

You can find out more about Timothy Scott Bogart’s work via his Instagram. Juliet & Romeo will be released in theatres starting May 9. Book tickets here and follow via Juliet & Romeo TikToc and Instagram.