Producer Shawn Levy will be squiring a new, revisionist take on Romeo and Juliet to the screen, based on the novel Rosaline by Rebecca Serle.
Fox 2000 acquired the novel as the second of a two-book purchase, Deadline reports. (500) Days of Summer writers Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber will be adapting the novel, which resets the Bard’s classic doomed love story in modern-day high school. The focus will evidently be on Rosaline (“Rosalind” in Shakespeare’s play, but why quibble?), Romeo’s jilted ex-girlfriend.
Shakespeare’s plays have translated quite successfully into contemporary re-tellings, such as teen-comedy 10 Things I Hate About You (“The Taming of the Shrew”), and the warped, indie dark comedy Scotland, PA (“MacBeth” in a fast food joint). Still, the Bard’s tales have been curiously absent from the screen since the last Romeo and Juliet revision, Shakespeare In Love. 
The project might also butt heads with a oddly familiar spec script floating around Hollywood, called Romeo & Rosalind. Still, Shawn Levy directed Date Night and Night at the Museum – his clout is undeniable. Either way, it would be nice to see another return of Shakespeare’s tales, still and always the cornerstone of modern storytelling.
Do you think the world needs another Romeo & Juliet revamp?