Tom Holland and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers "Romeo & Juliet" Faceoff Photo

About

Tom Holland and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers Romeo & Juliet Faceoff Photo or Romeo y Julieta refers to a first-look photo for the stage adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet starring Tom Holland as Romeo and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers as Juliet in which the two stars stare into each other's eyes from a side profile view. The photo was posted to X / Twitter in May 2024 and became the subject of memes and discourse, with some joking that the photo looked like promotion for a UFC fight, also inspiring photoshops.

Origin

On May 13th, 2024, a series of first-look photographs promoting a stage adaptation of Romeo & Juliet starring Tom Holland and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers were released.^[1] In one photo, Holland and Amewudah-Rivers are seen staring at each other in the eyes from a side profile view. That day, X^[2] user @Rekount_er posted the photo, simply writing, "Romeo y Julieta," garnering over 4,100 likes and 5,700 reposts in two days (shown below).

Spread

The photograph inspired discourse and memes over the following days, with some criticizing Amewudah-Rivers in general for her perceivably "masculine" look, suggesting she should not be playing Juliet. Some compared the photograph to promotional photographs for UFC fights. On May 14th, 2024, X^[3] user @soyproyectow posted a photoshop placing Predator's head over Amewudah-Rivers', garnering over 10,000 likes in a day (shown below, left).

On the same day, X^[4] user @Rhevolver posted the photo, writing, "I thought it was the announcement of some UFC fight between an American and a Brazilian but they tell me it's the new couple from Romeo and Juliet, garnering over 30,000 likes in a day. X^[5] user @epodotcom posted a photoshop altering the photo to further resemble a UFC fight promo, garnering over 1,400 likes in a day (shown below, right).

Later on May 14th, X^[6] user @Nugjokes posted, "Hes supposed to kill himself for that?" and X^[7] user @kirawontmiss posted, "why tf does this look like a UFC poster," garnering over 32,000 likes and 97,000 likes, respectively, in a day. A thread was started on 4chan's /r/tv^[8] board that day using the Predator photoshop, with a thread criticizing Amewudah-Rivers' casting starting on the 15th on the /tv/^[9] board.

Also on May 15th, 2024, X^[10] user @oocmma posted a Photoshop edit adding UFC President Dana White into the photograph, garnering over 3,100 likes in under a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References