Rosaline: Kaitlyn Dever and Minnie Driver are a combative duo in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

We’ve all heard the love story of Romeo and Juliet, but you’ve never seen Shakespeare’s famous work as told Rosaline (Streaming on Disney+ in Canada October 14) with Kaitlyn Dever, Kyle Allen, Minnie Driver, Bradley Whitford, Isabela Merced and Sean Teale.

Rosaline is briefly mentioned in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as an initial love interest in Romeo, who then meets and falls in love with Rosaline’s cousin Juliet at a party, completely forgetting his initial attraction to Rosaline.

In this film, the story is told from the perspective of the title character, played by Dever, of her initial forbidden love affair with Romeo (played by Allen) and devising a plan to get him back after realizing her love has fallen in her cousin is Julia (Merced).

“She’s mentioned in Romeo and Juliet, but she’s a very, very, very small part of the story, so it was actually a really exciting prospect because you can kind of do anything and everything you want,” Dever said reporters from playing Rosaline. “The character I kind of created with Karen [Maine] was kind of something that we just felt could be done in so many ways.

“I think I just had so much fun with the role on a day-to-day basis. I just appreciated and admired her determination, fearlessness and drive. But just play the comedy. The writing is so brilliant. It was really easy to go there somehow. But I mean it was so easy to just have the most fun and sometimes just be rude and sarcastic and comedic with this whole cast. It was really, really fun.

Not unlike other Shakespearean reinterpretations, such as 10 things I hate about you, she is the man and cluelessit has a comedic tone and a self-reflective character, but Rosaline doesn’t move to the present, it stays in that time but with more contemporary dialogue, in a similar vein to the Netflix show Bridgeton.

The story goes on

Although the concept of adapting Shakespeare’s work is not new, Rosaline is very endearing and puts you right back in the experience of watching your favorite 90’s or early 2000’s rom-com from the screenwriters who brought us (500 days of summer, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber.

“The script was sent to me and I was told Kaitlyn would be starring, so I immediately thought, ‘I love Kaitlyn and her work, I really want to work with her, she’s amazing,'” said director Karen Maine. “The script was fantastic.”

“The idea of ​​setting it in the classic Renaissance era with that modern language and sensibilities and themes would create, I think, that perfect juxtaposition of old and new that really nails the comedy and makes it shine.” That was really the goal and I hope we achieved it.”

Minnie Driver is a funny British highlight

Another highlight of the Rosaline is Minnie Driver’s portrayal of Sister Janet, Rosaline’s nurse who is her trusted confidante and tries to convince her to give up on her plans to get Romeo back.

“You have to have an anchor in a headstrong love story/drama, and it was really funny,” said Driver. “That was very smart of Karen to keep her Brits because Brits sound weird.”

Driver’s character has a great wit and sarcasm that anchors all of her brilliant scenes, especially with Kaitlyn Dever.

“I went to nursing school for seven years and now that’s what I do for a living, so yeah, life is unfair,” says Driver as Sister Janet to Rosaline, who complains that her life isn’t fair.

Funnily enough, while Driver is largely regarded as an absolute force in an actor, she hasn’t always had the best track record with Shakespeare.

“I was invited by the National Theater of Great Britain … they put together a cast of actors, little did we know it was a huge audition for ‘Romeo and Juliet,'” Driver told reporters. “We thought we were just there for a study group.”

“I was the first person to get up and I did the balcony scene, and Richard Eyre, … he was the artistic director, at the end he said, ‘That was so great because it’s really important to look like it’s not is it going to do. Any pitfalls you fell into are pitfalls actors fall into with this role. So good job. You can sit down now.” And it was the most humbling experience, but he wasn’t wrong.”