I Watched Romeo + Juliet For The First Time In Years, And There's One Performance That Still Blows Me Away

When Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, a hyper-stylized and modern take on William Shakespeare’s tragic play about star-crossed lovers and forbidden love, came out, I was obsessed with it. Before I even saw the movie, the classic poster featuring Leonardo DiCaprio’s Romeo Montague and Claire Danes’ Juliet Capulet surrounded by their rival families was something I’d always look at while strolling through Blockbuster or Suncoast.

I recently went back and watched this great ‘90s movie for the first time in years with my Hulu subscription, and it was just as wild as I remembered. While the entire Romeo + Juliet cast was a wonderful, nearly 30 years later, there’s one performance that blew me away in 1996 that is still just as extraordinary and dynamic in 2025. In case you were wondering, it’s neither of the two leads…

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Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, And John Leguizamo Are Great In Their Respective Roles

While watching Romeo + Juliet for the first time in a very long time, I quickly remembered why Leonardo DiCaprio became such a massive star in the mid-1990s. It's a rise that would reach astronomical heights the following year when he played the ill-fated Jack Dawson in James Cameron’s 1997 epic, Titanic. His take on a young and hopelessly romantic Montague heir as he stumbles around a near-dystopian-looking Verona was absolutely magical.

The same can be said about the angelic performance by Claire Danes as Juliet Capulet, the daughter of the Montague family’s arch nemesis and a teenage girl whose life is forever changed after having a chance encounter with Romeo. Going from hopeful to hopelessly pained along her journey, the actress, who was only 16 at the time, gave a star-making performance.

Then there is John Leguizamo as Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin and a man with some of the best footwear I’ve ever seen in a movie. His introduction in that insane and explosive moment of civil unrest in the opening minutes, where he stomps out a match with those metal-plated heels, is just too damn cool. But he’s still not the best or most iconic character from the movie.

Let's Be Real, Harold Perrineau's Mercutio Is The Real Star Of This Movie

I’m not going to lie, Harold Perrineau’s portrayal of Mercutio was, is and forever will be the real star of Romeo + Juliet. The Oz and Lost actor could have taken a more conventional approach when playing Romeo’s best friend, but he went all out and gave not simply a scene-stealing performance, but one of the most electrifying performances of his entire career.

Whether Mercutio, who seems to float around in this weird space not caught up between the ongoing Montague and Capulet feud (at least initially), is getting his friends into one of the best parties in cinematic history, giving us one of the greatest soliloquies of all time, or becoming the envy of everyone with his killer drag performance, this guy does it all. But it’s not just fun and games, as Mercutio standing up for Romeo and getting killed by Tybalt provides for one of the most emotional and powerful scenes of the entire movie.

Mercutio's Introduction Is Still My Favorite Scene In The Movie After All These Years

The crimson red convertible, the extravagant outfit, the glowing wig and the dynamic personality of Mercutio are all on full display when Romeo’s best friend is introduced just before the fateful Capulet party. When I first saw Romeo + Juliet all those years ago, this was my favorite scene, and not just because of the way Harold Perrineau’s character blasts his way into the movie, though that is worth mentioning.

A contradiction of Romeo in just about every way imaginable, this beloved stage character challenges his lovestruck and morose buddy in an attempt to cheer him up, experience life and not get caught in the trappings of love. The way Mercutio brings Shakespeare’s words to life with phrases like “If love be rough with you, be rough with love; prick love for pricking and you beat love down” is pure magic and still just as powerful nearly 30 years later.

I Honestly Don't Know How Anyone Could Have Pulled Off The Character In Baz Luhrmann's Version Like This

I’ve long considered Romeo + Juliet to be Baz Luhrmann’s best movie, and a lot of that has to do with Harold Perrineau’s portrayal of Mercutio. Yeah, the inclusion of two Radiohead songs is awesome, and the other acting performances are to die for, but it’s Mercutio that does it for me. I honestly don’t know if anyone could have pulled off this version of the character so well; there’s just no way.

I would love to know what that first meeting was like between the director and actor, where they figured out how Mercutio was going to be portrayed and how they were going to differentiate the performance from other takes on the classic character over the years. Let me tell you, this is nothing like the more traditional versions of the character, and it works within the realm of Luhrmann’s directorial style.

The Fact That Perrineau Would Then Go On To Star In Oz The Next Year Makes This Performance Even Better

You know what I love more than Romeo + Juliet? If you guessed Oz, then you’d be correct. This landmark HBO drama series, which pretty much laid the groundwork for the premium cable channel’s output for the following decade, is one of the most unhinged, yet artistic shows of all time. Who was at the center of most of the show’s episodes? None other than Harold Perrineau’s Augustus Hill (and the show’s fourth-wall-breaking narrator).

I just can’t get over the fact that Perrineau went from giving audiences a unique spin on Mercutio in a bonkers William Shakespeare adaptation to playing one of TV’s most unforgettable characters in the span of a few months. Yeah, there was a lot that was unrealistic about Oz when it came to the situations and Perrineau’s character, but the actor, along with the rest of the cast, helped create a show that was one thing on the surface but so much more the deeper you dove. Plus, those openings are still great after all these years.

The moral of the story is that it’s never a bad idea to go back and watch one of your favorite movies, even if the experience reaffirms something you thought many years ago.