The trailer forRosalinehas finally been released, an adaptation ofWhen You Were Mineby Rebecca Serle. The premise is that it’s a comedic retelling ofRomeo and Julietfrom the perspective of Romeo’s ex, who attempts to break up the budding romance and win him back. If you’re unfamiliar with the play and don’t know the ex’s name, the film provides a, shall we say, major hint.
Thelong-gestating filmhas been developing since 2010 and has gown through multiple leading ladies. Keira Knightley, Hailee Steinfield, Deborah Ann Woll, Allison Williams, and Felicity Jones were all in talks to play Rosaline. Other actors attached to the play Romeo and Juliet include Dave Franco, Lily Collins, and Emilia Clarke. Michael Sucsy and Alex Timbers were once set to direct before Karen Maine was hired.
The main role ultimately went toKaitlyn Dever, known for her work inDopesick,Booksmart, andUnbelievable.Space OddityandWest Side Storystar Kyle Allen will play Romeo, while Isabela Merced fromFather of the Bride(2022) andDora the Explorerwill play Juliet. Other cast members include Minnie Driver as The Nurse and Bradley Whitford as Friar Laurence.
Where Art Thou?
Previously in an interview withIndieWire, Dever said that she selects her roles through an intuition that occurs as soon as she reads something:
“There’s a real, immediate, sort of like a full body physical and emotional reaction that makes me just be so desperate to want to be a part of those kinds of projects. I want to continue to look for that, chase that feeling, and seek out the projects that I think will be impactful in some sort of way. Because that’s the best combination of something on a job that I get to do, where I get to do what I love, but also be a part of something that will move the needle forward, or start a conversation in some sort of way.”
Dever will next be seen in the upcoming divorce romantic comedyTicket to Paradise,which will star Julia Roberts and George Clooney. Merced will appear alongside Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney inMadam Web, an entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU). Allen will take over the role of He-Man in a live-actionMasters of the Universeremake.
The trailer, set to Icona Pop’s “I Love It,” provides the audience with an idea of what the movie will be like. The film doesn’t have the iambic pentameter of the original play or old-school style prose ofRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.Rosalineemploys an anachronistically modern style of speaking–complete with current slang. At one point in the trailer, in response to someone calling Rosaline out on trying to break up her ex-boyfriend’s wedding, Rosaline replies by saying, “blow me.”
Rosalinewill be released on October 14th, going to the streaming platform Hulu. It’ll also have its East Coast premiere at the 2022 Hamptons International Film Festival. Maine’s previous films includeYes, God, Yes,andStarstruck. Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who previously wrote the screenplays forThe Fault in Our StarsandThe Disaster Artist, handled the scriptwriting duties for this movie.
