Talk:Susan Shentall

Comments
What is there now is the bare bones of Shentall's story. It really needs more material.

It seems to be well-known that Joan Collins was the first choice for the part of Juliet. The Rank Organisation were the film's backers. They were keen to have Collins, but she wrote in her autobiography that she didn't feel she was right for the part played as an inexperienced teenager. Castellani did want to have actors playing Romeo and Juliet who were the ages Shakespeare had implied. He got his way after a number of screen tests: "... he agreed that I was too sophisticated - looking for their version of Juliet. Signor Castellani came to me before the last test and gave me his ultimatum . "You will havva the nose job" ". This is from Joan Collins: Her Autobiography and Two Complete Novels p. 37 (on Google Books, but you'd have to get round the snippet view). So Collins had a reason to refuse the part. There is a brief version at https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1SqXAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA206.

According to https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=a2UgAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA163, Castellani's film version was "the first to cast young actors that had approximately the same age as the lovers."

So how Shentall was cast, in line with Castellani's wishes and against Rank's view, comes out as the key part of the story.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GITRwfip1R4C&pg=PA76 says Shentall's face was like "a mask of porcelain" (other comments about the mise en scene and acting). https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Gq48PM14-vIC&pg=PA174 has something about Castellani's preparation.

Castellani's "discovery" of Shentall is mentioned on https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=a2UgAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA167. An important point mentioned there is that the use of non-professional actors was basic in Italian neorealism - it was part of the style.

Charles Matthews (talk) 10:30, 19 April 2023 (UTC)

Working on draft
Your sandbox article draft has been moved here, for further development. In a few days time, I may start working on it. You can of course work on it yourself. You are now a confirmed user, meaning that you now have the Move button on the Tools menu. In due course I'll move this draft into the main article space, when I think it is of the right standard. You can also do that yourself. Charles Matthews (talk) 08:52, 27 July 2023 (UTC)