Luhrmann was intimidated by Shakespeare

The filmmaker was intimidated by Shakespeare at school and wanted to retell the story so everybody could understand the doomed love story.

He explained: “The thing I really set out to do was to smash what I call ‘club Shakespeare'. [The idea that] you have to be a member of the club to understand it.

“This 26-year-old writer wrote this fantastic play so that everybody could understand it, so that everybody could be affected by it.”