Full cast announced for 'Romeo and Juliet'

With filming now underway in Italy, the full cast of director Carlo Carlei's adaptation of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" has been announced.

Hailee Steinfeld

Based on a script from Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes ("Gosford Park"), the film is set to star the already announced Hailee Steinfeld ("True Grit") as Juliet and Douglas Booth ("The Pillars of the Earth") as Romeo.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new cast members include Damian Lewis ("Homeland") as Lord Capulet, Natascha McElhone ("The Truman Show") as Lady Capulet, Stellan Skarsgard ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo") as Prince of Verona, Lesley Manville ("Another Year') as The Nurse, Christian Cooke ("Where the Heart Is") as Mercutio, Tomas Arana ("Gladiator") as Lord Montague, Laura Morante ("Remember Me, My LOve") as Lady Montague and Leon Vitali as Apothecary.

They join Paul Giamatti ("The Ides of March") as Friar Laurence, Kodi Smit-McPhee ("Let Me In") as Benvolio and Ed Westwick ("Gossip Girl") as Tybalt.

The Reporter quoted Fellowes as saying the film will be "the romantic medieval love story as conceived by Shakespeare. We felt that really what we needed was just to make it slightly more accessible to today’s generation."

Hailee Steinfeld in talks to join 'Romeo and Juliet'

Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit"

It's been a busy week for Academy Award-nominee Hailee Steinfeld.

Multiple sources reported today the "True Grit" actress is in talks to star in the latest adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the crew will include Italian director Carlo Carlie ("Flight of the Innocent"), screenwriter Julian Fellowes ("Gosford Park") and producer Garbiele Muccino (director of "The Pursuit of Happyness").

The news comes just over a week after reports had Steinfeld in talks to star Lindsay Devlin's unsold "Sleeping Beauty" project.

A debut role like Maddie Ross, not to mention an Academy Award nomination, will get you offers, and obviously this has been the case for Steinfeld. Of course one has to ask whether or not we really need another "Romeo and Juliet" adaptation, but it's hard to argue with the pedigrees behind it.

More interesting is the "Sleeping Beauty" project, which would reportedly follow Princess Aurora into a kind of dreamland during her long sleep.

Here's to whatever she does next.