Romeo and Juliet is a 1968 British-Italian cinematic adaptation of the William Shakespeare play of the same name. The film was directed and co-written by Franco Zeffirelli, and starred Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. It won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design; it was also nominated for Best Director and Best Picture. Sir Laurence Olivier spoke the film's prologue and epilogue and reportedly dubbed the voice of the Italian actor playing Lord Montague, but was not credited in the film. It was the most financially successful film of a Shakespeare play made up to that time and was popular with teenage audiences, partly because it used, for the first time, actors who were close to the age of the characters as Shakespeare describes them. Several critics also welcomed the film enthusiastically. In Verona, Italy, Romeo and Juliet, the teenage children of two feuding families (Montagues and Capulets, respectively), meet at a feast and fall in love. They are secretly married by Romeo's confessor and father figure, Friar Laurence, with the assistance of Juliet's nursemaid.