I love this question. I personally think Dakota Fanning would be an superb Juliet. She is really coming into her own as an actress and she is closer in age to the actual character. I agree with lynn30k about Shia Lebouf. He's a good actor, but horrible for this role. And I also veto Hayden Panatierre. Again, great actress, just wrong for the role of Juliet. Robert Pattinson would be an excellent Tybalt. His role in Twilight proves that he can play dark characters. For Romeo, I would have to say Tristan Wilds from 90210.

How about Thomas Dekker and Summer Glau as Romeo and Juliet? They're the leads in the Terminator TV show, and could be very interesting. jp55, gotta vote against Shia Lebouf....his performance in the last Indiana Jones movie was soooooo bad. Wasn't totally his fault, though, he was just seriously mis-cast.

Oooooh, love these question types.

My first pick for Romeo would be James McAvoy...he can do intense and brooding like nobody's business. I would probably pick Emmy Rossum as Juliet...she is the epitome of beautiful ingenue.  For Benvolio, I really like the British actor Harry Lloyd. He does thoughtful sidekick very well...if you have not seen the BBC Robin Hood...he is worth the watch. I like Paul Bettany for Mercutio, but he may be too old.

Well, it's an open question isn't it? It depends how good you think the actors are. I think Romeo and Juliet are two of the hardest roles in Shakespeare, and the play as a whole is incredibly difficult to pull off. I have never seen a production where I actually cared that two young people at the end wound up dead (and I have seen - including the RSC's most recent production - some achingly boring productions).

So you'd have to think about whether these actors could cope with the - very difficult - language, and actually find ways to believably get to grips with the text of the play. I'm not going to go into all that.  

Dream casting? OK then. I'd have Natalie Portman as Juliet, and David Kross (from the reader) as Romeo. Tybalt's just a bit of a thug, so someone like Vinnie Jones might do the trick (though he's maybe a bit old). I'd love to see what Ricky Gervais or Jim Carrey would make of Mercutio. And.. the nurse? There are almost too many options. But I'd want to talk to Whoopi Goldberg.

Hope it helps!

Natalie Portman is brilliant!  Read the David Kross wrongly at first.  I was thinking, really, David Cross, from Mr. Show? :)  Now THAT would be interesting! Esp if Ricky Gervais got to be Mecutio (or Jim Carrey for that matter)

That is a very difficult question for just one person to answer, and it does not have one single "right" response.  How a director casts a film or play is determined by many factors.  Not only does each character have a basic role to play in the story, but the director has to decide HOW that role should be played.  Also, as many directors and producers do, the setting in which the play will take place has a strong impact on character development and, therefore, actor selection. 

Here's an example:  the most modern film version of Romeo and Juliet was set in a modern-day inner city.  Leonardo DiCaprio played Romeo. Many scholars and film critics disagreed about this choice, but then the movie made a lot of money.

So, to answer your question, I think you must look at the actors you know and compare them to how you see the characters in the play to look and behave.  The thing about plays is that, as performance literature, they are meant to be interpreted.  Character descriptions can only say so much. 

Based on YOUR reading of the play, how would you answer your question?