Great Expectations actor Douglas Booth has revealed that he is finding the fact that he will be playing the character Romeo very daunting, although he does also admit that it is rather exciting at the same time. Douglas Booth will star alongside Hailee Steinfeld in the Carlo Carlei adaptation of the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet.
Booth explained, "I fell in love at 14 and I remember that mad, tense feeling and all the mad things you do for the person, all those extremes and all the stuff you don't mind putting up with. I'm not with that person anymore, but I fell in love again and it was even more powerful, maybe deeper."
He added, "It's pretty daunting, but what an amazing character. And Hailee will be a great Juliet. The most important thing is really knowing what I'm saying, you have to live the lines. I want to throw away the banner of Romeo and boil it down to two young people fallen in love and having a really tough time. I read this newspaper story recently about a teenage boy who was a gamekeeper. He was cleaning his gun and accidentally shot it, killing his girlfriend. He was so grief-stricken he then killed himself. Romeo & Juliet is still relevant and real."
Douglas continued, "You get to know that person so well during filming, so as long as you get on with each other then it works. It might look very passionate on screen but in reality it probably wasn't. I don't feel like I've ever kissed any of the people I have done for acting. That moment didn't exist for you, it existed for that person." You can see Douglas Booth as Romeo and Hailee Steinfeld as Juliet, when Romeo & Juliet is released later this year.
