Screenwriter Julian Fellowes, of Downton Abbey fame, rewrites Shakespeare for the cinema.

"Julian Fellowes has been criticised by Shakespeare experts for rewriting certain passages and altering the language used in the Bard's work.

He rejects the criticism, saying the film was never intended to be a straight adaptation of the original.

"When people say we should have filmed the original, I don't attack them for that point of view, but to see the original in its absolutely unchanged form, you require a kind of Shakespearian scholarship and you need to understand the language and analyse it and so on.

"I can do that because I had a very expensive education, I went to Cambridge. Not everyone did that and there are plenty of perfectly intelligent people out there who have not been trained in Shakespeare's language choices."

Film producer Ileen Maisel chose Fellowes, who won the best screenplay Oscar for Gosford Park in 2002, to write the script as she wanted someone who could "update Shakespeare's language and story while staying true to its poetic cadence and compelling plot lines".

Fellowes adds: "We wanted [a wider group] to enjoy a version of Romeo and Juliet much more than they would expect to.

"That was our goal, to allow them to enjoy the great beauty of the speeches, but at the same time to tell the story in a way they could follow and wouldn't feel alienated or left out," he says."

Do you agree? Does Shakespeare's language need 'updating'? Read more at the source (BBC.co.uk)