McCowen enjoyed a major success as Mercutio in London. In 1976, Michael Pennington played the role opposite Ian McKellen and Francesca Annis in Trevor Nunn's production for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1992, Colm Feore played Mercutio in a production directed by Richard Monette at Canada's Stratford Festival. Antoni Cimolino played Romeo and Megan Follows was Juliet. In 2006, Benjamin Walker portrayed Mercutio during the Williamstown Theater Festival with Emmy Rossum as Juliet and Greg Hildreth as Benvolio. Film In 1936, John Barrymore portrayed Mercutio in George Cukor's film Romeo and Juliet opposite Leslie Howard as Romeo. In 1961, Russ Tamblyn played the Mercutio character, Riff Lorton, in the film adaptation of West Side Story, the musical modernised version of Romeo and Juliet. In 1968, John McEnery portrayed Mercutio in Franco Zeffirelli's film Romeo and Juliet. In 1976, Robin Nedwell played Mercutio in the Thames Television production directed by Joan Kemp-Welch, with Christopher Neame as Romeo and Ann Hasson as Juliet. In 1978, Anthony Andrews played the role in the BBC Television Shakespeare production, the first in a series of adaptations of all Shakespeare's plays. In 1996, Harold Perrineau portrayed Mercutio in Baz Luhrmann's modernised version, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. In 1998, Ben Affleck portrayed actor Edward Alleyn in the romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love. In the film, Alleyn serves as history's first Mercutio. In 2007, Tetsuya Kakihara and Christopher Bevins voice Mercutio in the anime series Romeo x Juliet. In 2011, Hale Appleman portrayed Mercutio in Alan Brown's Private Romeo, a modern-day adaptation set at an all-male military academy. In 2013, Christian Cooke played Mercutio in the film adaption directed by Carlo Carlei, starring Douglas Booth as Romeo and Hailee Steinfeld as Juliet. In 2021, Mike Faist played Riff in the Steven Spielberg film of West Side Story, which starred Ansel Elgort as Tony and Rachel Zegler as María. See also Complete list of Shakespearean characters References External links Complete listing of all of Mercutio's lines Mercutio Character Analysis at Shakespeare Online Literary characters introduced in 1597 Fictional Italian people in literature Male Shakespearean characters Characters in Romeo and Juliet Fictional nobility Fictional swordfighters Fictional murdered people