LONDON -- First it was Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo. Now it's Gwyneth Paltrow in "Shakespeare in Love."
When Hollywood falls in love with the bard, the cash registers start ringing in Stratford, the playwright's birthplace."Shakespeare's popularity is as perennial as ever," said spokeswoman Kate Hunter at the Royal Shakespeare Company, which is looking forward to a bumper summer as theatrical tourists pour into the town.
Heralding the seven Oscars won by "Shakespeare in Love," a fictionalized account of the bard's love life, she said on Monday: "It's great for business. This is a celebration of all things Shakespearean."
The Guinness Book of Records ranks Shakespeare as the most filmed author with 309 versions of his plays and 41 movies loosely based on them.
Hollywood's new-found interest in the bard has pulled the young back into the theater -- after years at school studying Shakespearean texts out of academic duty, not love.
"This will be a huge boost to tourism for Stratford, especially from overseas," Hunter said. "It happened before with 'Romeo and Juliet.' It makes Shakespeare more accessible to young people."
DiCaprio stole teenage hearts in the modern version of "Romeo and Juliet" set in gangland Los Angeles.
"Shakespeare in Love" has cemented that appeal. Advance booking for the 1999 season at Stratford's Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the company's summer home, have already topped $3.25 million.