'Rosaline': Kaitlyn Dever, Minnie Driver are a fierce duo in revamped Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet movie

Elisabetta Bianchini
Updated ·4 min read

We’ve all heard the love story of Romeo and Juliet, but you’ve never seen Shakespeare’s famed work quite the way it’s told in Rosaline (streaming on Disney+ in Canada Oct. 14), starring Kaitlyn Dever, Kyle Allen, Minnie Driver, Bradley Whitford, Isabela Merced and Sean Teale.

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

In this movie, the story is told through the title character's perspective, played by Dever, from her initial forbidden love affair with Romeo (played by Allen), and devising a scheme to get him back after she realizes her love has fallen for her cousin Juliet (Merced).

"She is mentioned in Romeo and Juliet but she's a very, very, very small role in the story and so, because of that, it was actually a really exciting prospect because you can kind of do anything and everything you want to," Dever told reporters about playing Rosaline. "The character that I sort of created with Karen [Maine] was kind of something that we just felt like you could go for it in so many ways."

"I think that on the daily, I was just having so much fun with the role. I just appreciated and admired her determination and her fearlessness and her drive. But just playing up the comedy. The writing is so brilliant. It was really easy to kind of go there. But, I mean, it was so easy to just have the most fun and just be sort of outrageous sometimes, and sarcastic and comedic with this whole cast. It was really, really fun."

(L-R): Spencer Stevenson as Paris, Kaitlyn Dever as Rosaline, Kyle Allen as Romeo, and Henry Hunter Hall as Mercutio in 20th Century Studios' ROSALINE, exclusively on Hulu. (Photo by Moris Puccio)
(L-R): Spencer Stevenson as Paris, Kaitlyn Dever as Rosaline, Kyle Allen as Romeo, and Henry Hunter Hall as Mercutio in 20th Century Studios' ROSALINE, exclusively on Hulu. (Photo by Moris Puccio)

Not dissimilar to other Shakespeare re-imaginings, like 10 Things I Hate About You, She's The Man and Clueless, it has a comedic tone and self-reflective nature, but Rosaline doesn't move into the present day, it stays in that time period, but with more current dialogue, in a similar lane to the Netflix show Bridgerton.

While the concept of adapting Shakespeare’s work isn't new, Rosaline is very endearing and takes you right back to the experience of watching your favourite '90s or early 2000s 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 that Kaitlyn was attached to play the lead, so immediately I was like, 'I love Kaitlyn and her work, dying to work with her, she's amazing,'" director Karen Maine said. "The script was amazing."

"The idea to set it in classic Renaissance period with this modern language and the modern sensibilities and themes just would create this, in my mind, this perfect juxtaposition of old and new that just really nailed the comedy and let it shine. So that was really the goal and I hope we achieved it."

(L-R): Kaitlyn Dever as Rosaline and Minnie Driver as The Nurse in 20th Century Studios' ROSALINE, exclusively on Hulu. (Photo by Moris Puccio)
(L-R): Kaitlyn Dever as Rosaline and Minnie Driver as The Nurse in 20th Century Studios' ROSALINE, exclusively on Hulu. (Photo by Moris Puccio)

Minnie Driver is a witty, British highlight

Another highlight of Rosaline is Minnie Driver's portrayal of Nurse Janet, the nurse to Rosaline who is her trusted confidant, and tries to persuade her to abandon her plans to get Romeo back.

“You have to have an anchor in a wayward love story/drama and she was really funny,” Driver said. “That was very smart of Karen to keep her British because British people sound funny."

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

"I went to nursing school for seven years and now this is what I do for a living, so yeah life is unfair," Driver says as Nurse Janet to Rosaline, who is complaining that her life isn't fair.

While Driver is largely seen as an absolute force of an actor, funny enough, she hasn't always had the best track record with Shakespeare.

“I was invited by the National Theatre of Great Britain,...they got a collection of actors together, we didn’t know that it was a giant audition for 'Romeo and Juliet,'” Driver revealed to reporters. “We thought we were just there to do 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 was like, ‘That was so great because it’s really important to see how not to do it. Every pitfall that you fell into are pitfalls that actors fall into with this role. So, good job. You can sit down now.’ And it was the most humiliating experience, but he was not wrong.”