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Shakespeare Must Die One of many examples of what Richard Burt has coined “Skakesploitation” can be seen is action star Jet Li’s Romeo Must Die (2000). In this film, the director, Andrzej Bartkowiak, takes William Shakespeare’s renowned love story, Romeo and Juliet, and exploits the themes of romance, betrayal, revenge, and jealousy. The final product is a cornucopia of Shakespeare’s ideas and themes to produce a film that could be described as “Hollywood Shakespeare.” Romeo Must Die is a movie that loosely resembles the story of Romeo and Juliet. In both works, the audience is introduced to two feuding families. Instead of the renowned Capulet and Montague families in Romeo and Juliet, there are the Chinese and American mafias in Romeo Must Die. The American mafia is focused on constructing a new stadium that would bring them a fortune, while the Chinese mafia opposes the assembly. Jet Li plays “Romeo” opposite singer Aaliyah as “Juliet”. As in Shakespeare’s original play, “Romeo” and “Juliet” meet up purely by chance, unbeknownst that each other are the son and daughter, respectively, of the feuding mafias. The resemblances between Jet Li’s Romeo and Shakespeare’s Romeo are b