The stars of the 1968 movie, “Romeo and Juliet,” Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, have sued Paramount Pictures for sexual exploitation and distribution of nude photos of minors, 54 years later.
The actors, who were 15 and 16 years old at the time of filming, rose to fame because of the movie. Directed by the late Franco Zeffirelli, “Romeo and Juliet” was nominated for four Academy Awards.
The two stars have pressed charges due to the controversial bedroom scene depicted in the movie. According to the pair, director Zeffirelli assured them that skin tone clothing will be worn during the scene, but on the day of the shoot, he talked to them and said that instead of the garments, only body makeup would be used. He promised the actors that the film crew would angle their cameras in a way that would not show the teenagers’ nude bodies. To convince them, he told them that the movie would “fail” if they did not agree to do it that way.
Zeffirelli filmed them nude, as Hussey’s chest and Whiting’s buttocks were shown in the film. The nude scenes violated California and federal laws that protect children from such exploitation.
The lawsuit was filed in Santa Monica Superior Court in California on December 30, 2022.
Business manager Tony Marinozzi told “Variety” that what they were told was not what had actually happened. The actors accused Zeffirelli of filming them naked without their knowledge or consent, and then including the scenes in the final cut without their permission. The two young stars placed a huge amount of trust in the late director. The pair’s lawyer, Solomon Gresen, also said that the two were young at that time and they did not understand much of what was being asked of them.
According to the lawsuit, Hussey and Whiting suffered from “physical and emotional pain along with extreme and severe mental anguish and emotional distress” after the film was shown. It also states that the actors were not able to secure acting stints, despite the movie’s popularity, due to what happened. The two are suing for damages worth more than $500 million.
Meanwhile, it should be noted that Hussey talked about the film in a positive way during a 2018 interview. She said that nudity was common in European films. She also said that Whiting was not shy during filming and that it was not a big deal for her and that she even forgot that she was not wearing anything at the scene shootings.
Franco Zeffirelli died in 2019.