Douglas Booth to star in Carlo Carlei's Romeo and Juliet

Rising British star Douglas Booth has fought off 300 hopefuls to bag a lead role in Italian director Carlo Carlei's adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, Variety reports . The 19-year-old actor – who previously featured in TV series The Pillars of the Earth and will play Pip in a forthcoming BBC Great Expectations also starring Ray Winstone – has been cast opposite Hailee Steinfeld , nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar on the back of her performance as Mattie Ross in True Grit . Ed Westwick (Tybalt) and 15-year-old Kodi Smit-McPhee (Benvolio) strengthen an authentically youthful cast – Shakespeare originally intended the character of Juliet to be only 13 . The Incredibles 's Holly Hunter will play the Nurse, Juliet's forthright companion. Carlei's project – the latest in a long line of adaptations featuring Franco Zeffirelli's cherished 1968 classic and Baz Luhrmann 's 1996 update – is boosted by the presence of Downton Abbey 's Julian Fellowes as scriptwriter and co-producer. The film has been scheduled for a 2012 release date.