Thank Shakespeare for Your Favorite Rom Coms
I burn, I pine, I perish. Anyone But You, a new romcom starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, has become the highest-grossing live-action William Shakespeare adaptation with $190 million, beating Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.
Image Courtesy: People Magazine / Jake Chessum
But this success was not without obstacles. The movie started gaining traction before it was released in December last year. In April, cheating rumors started emerging from the two stars. Paparazzi photos of the duo filming on a boat started to fuel gossip that the chemistry translated beyond the screen. Sweeney is engaged to producer Jonathan Davino, and Powell was dating Gigi Paris at the time. When his girlfriend unfollowed him and Sweeney on Instagram, the internet convinced infidelity was occurring. Some people on the internet were going as far as to say that “the rom-com was back” with these tabloid-esque cheating rumors. Despite the commotion, the duo remained flirty in behind-the-scenes content and interviews. But they both denied anything romantic was happening off-screen and that “it just proves that we’re great actors.”
When the teaser trailer came out in November, people had a lot of things to say. Its music choice gave the movie a 50 Shades of Grey feel as opposed to the romantic comedy that many were expecting. After its release, the movie even went through reshoots in Australia after the SAG-AFTRA strike. Even Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder joined in on poking fun at the suspected train wreck of a movie by parodying Sweeny and Powell’s promo for the movie.
With all of this criticism, it seemed inevitable that the movie would fail. Yet despite all the criticism, the movie was an immense success.
The plot focuses on Bea (Sweeney) and Ben (Powell), who had previously met each other in a coffee shop and instantly hit it off, but the relationship turns sour just as quickly as it started. Then the two are reunited through their sisters getting married in Sydney, Australia. Bea had separated from her fiance, Jonathan (ironic, isn’t it?), and Ben’s ex would be present at the wedding. In order to distract her parents from her break-up and to make his ex jealous, the pair decided to pretend to be in a relationship. The movie hits both the popular tropes of enemies-to-lovers and fake dating.
The movie is loosely based on Shakespere’s “Much Ado About Nothing”. Bea and Ben are an ode to the play’s main characters, Beatrice and Benedict. Its director, Will Gluck, was the director of Easy A, a movie that features Emma Stone (also ironic) and is a modernization of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. It seems as if the genre of modern retellings in movies is returning. A blockbuster rom-com is already a scarce occurrence these days, but these specific modernizations are even more rare.
“They don’t make movies like this anymore” is a complaint frequent on the internet. The movies that are often referenced are movies that are based on classic literature. “I burn, I pine, I perish” is a quote from Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, and a line in the best modern retelling is 10 Things I Hate About You, in my opinion. The iconic Clueless is loosely based on Jane Austen’s Emma. She’s The Man is from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. She’s All That is George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. The film also features Bea and Ben recreating the iconic Titanic pose, a movie that features a Romeo and Juliet type of relationship.
Image Courtesy: Touchstone Pictures / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
A significant element of any romantic movie is a staple song. In 10 Things I Hate About You, the scene of Heath Ledger singing “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Frankie Vallie has built a life of its own. In Anyone But You, “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield has had a revival due to the movie’s soundtrack.
With a blooper reel at the movie's end and a Valentine’s edition released, it’s hard not to see the similarities to the beloved movies we’ve seen in the early 2000s. Even more recently, it has become the first rom-com to gross $200 million at the global box office since Crazy Rich Asians in 2018. This success all comes from a $25 million budget.
Powell has talked of doing another movie with Sweeney at the SAG Awards’ red carpet. This comment leaves fans wondering if another successful retelling will greet us in the future.
Strike Out,
Kim Nguyen
Boca Raton
Kim Nguyen is a Content Writer for Strike Magazine Boca. When not overthinking, this fangirl is either consuming romance media, Vietnamese coffee, or Beyoncé's discography. You can reach her by email at kimvunguyen14@gmail.comor on Instagram @kimnguyen1_.
