(L-R) Juliet, Gnomeo and Benny — gnomes from opposite sides of the lawn in Gnomeo & Juliet. The film was directed by Kelly Asbury (Shrek 2).
If you've come across the movie poster for Touchstone Pictures' Gnomeo & Juliet, then you've seen the image of the backyard garden gnome stuck in the grass upside down. Your eyes follow up the sides of the oversized blue hat, traveling up to the gnomes grimacing and pudgy face. On top, his yellow crossed arms and green pants, with stunted legs, stick out toward the sky. In the background, a half a dozen even smaller gnomes in red hats laugh hysterically at the mess he's in. And that basically sums up exactly what the film has done to the Shakespearean classic Romeo and Juliet. It's completely turned the story on its head. Then, it has a little fun with it.
The film takes the phrase, "To be, or not to be" and turns it into an address — 2B and Not 2B — the place where the backyard story unfolds. And those ruthless battles between the Capulets and Montagues — well, in this hilarious film one of the biggest battles fought is a lawnmower race in a suburban alley. And to top it off, and the reason why this unlikely version of this hundreds-year-old tale has you totally transfixed, is the film's irony. It takes garden gnomes that are made of concrete and tells the greatest love story ever told. Somehow, through all this madness, Gnomeo & Juliet seems to captures a heartwarming tale for the whole family.
Casting a Shakespearean story with tacky and lowbrow (but totally charming) garden gnomes gave director Kelly Asbury (Shrek 2) the opportunity to add loads of fun to this classic drama. "The casting director brought us several different recorded voices and they didn't tell us who they were," says Kelly, who collaborated with producers David Furnish, Baker Bloodworth and Steve Hamilton Shaw to bring together the star-crossed cast that includes the likes of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Patrick Stewart, Dame Maggie Smith and even Dolly Parton. "We matched the voices with the characters that seemed right for the film and that's how we cast the movie. Ozzy Osbourne was an exception. We had this cute little concrete deer [Fawn] and we thought, 'Who would be the least expected voice to come out of that character?'"
Juliet, voiced by The Devil Wears Prada's Emily Blunt, lives her gnome life high above the fray on a backyard water fountain. She's been placed there by her overprotective father, Lord Redbrick (played in a comic turn by the incomparable Michael Caine), a father gnome intent upon keeping his beloved daughter forever unchipped. "She's no delicate flower," says Emily, who was first cast as a rebellious and hot-tempered Juliet at the age of 19 at the Chichester Festival Theatre in England. "I loved playing her onstage in this way and when I met Kelly [Asbury] it was really great to hear that he also wanted to do a tough little Juliet."
Juliet's Gnomeo and the star gardener for the Blues is voiced by The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe's James McAvoy. "The story of Romeo and Juliet has a lot of nice morals — like how to be aware of preconceptions and how forgiveness is important," James points out. "But you can't tell kids the story of Romeo and Juliet because there is a lot of death and hostility. So, with little garden gnomes you can tell all those morals without all the violence." And the result is a story that's wickedly funny, tender in places and sincere in every frame.
Sir Elton John's cameo appearance as a gnome in Gnomeo & Juliet. The film is out February 11.
Asked how such a dream cast came to be, the film's executive producer, Sir Elton John, whose production company Rocket Pictures made the movie in collaboration with Touchstone, adopts a lighthearted approach. "We begged," he laughs. Scoring the movie and punctuating it with some of the most widely recognized and beloved songs in pop music didn't hurt either. "It's the first time I ever allowed [so much of] my music or my catalog to be used in a movie," Elton says. "[Lyricist and longtime songwriting partner] Bernie [Taupin] and I wrote five new songs — two of which ended up in the film," he adds. "One is a duet with Lady Gaga called 'Hello Hello.' It was hard to pin her down because she's on tour, but she started work on it one week in November in Sweden and finished it off a week or so later in London. There's also a version of 'Crocodile Rock' at the end with Nelly Furtado and me, which is fantastic and a lot of fun."
As hilarious, musical and character-driven as Gnomeo & Juliet is, the movie also has a deep emotional heart, a lingering sense of the importance of the lessons contained in Shakespeare's story of doomed love. In the final act, our protagonists wander away to find their own garden — a place where nothing blue or red can bother them. There, they wonder if it's at all possible to break down the wall between their two families and the hatred that's endured for so long. "It sends out an important message for people to talk and put their differences aside," Elton says. "Even if we're worlds apart we should try to meet in the middle and work something out. That is what life is all about."
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