Stars of 1968 Zeffirelli film Romeo and Juliet sue over teen nude scene | 24CA News
The two stars of 1968’s Romeo and Juliet sued Paramount Pictures for greater than $500 million US on Tuesday over a nude scene within the movie shot after they had been teenagers.
Olivia Hussey, then 15 and now 71, and Leonard Whiting, then 16 now 72, filed the go well with in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud.
Director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, initially advised the 2 that they might put on flesh-coloured undergarments within the bed room scene that comes late within the film and was shot on the ultimate days of filming, the go well with alleges.
But on the morning of the shoot, Zeffirelli advised Whiting, who performed Romeo, and Hussey, who performed Juliet, that they might put on solely physique make-up, whereas nonetheless assuring them the digicam can be positioned in a manner that may not present nudity, based on the go well with.
Yet they had been filmed within the nude with out their information, in violation of California and U.S. legal guidelines in opposition to indecency and the exploitation of youngsters, the go well with says.
Zeffirelli advised them they need to act within the nude “or the picture would fail” and their careers can be damage, the go well with mentioned. The actors “believed they had no choice but to act in the nude in body makeup as demanded.”
Whiting’s naked buttocks and Hussey’s naked breasts are briefly proven through the scene.
Seen by generations of highschool college students
The movie, and its theme tune, had been main hits on the time, and has been proven to generations of highschool college students learning the Shakespeare play since.
The courtroom submitting says the Hussey and Whiting have suffered emotional injury and psychological anguish for many years, and that every had careers that didn’t mirror the success of the film.
It says provided that struggling and the income introduced in by the movie since its launch, the actors are entitled to damages of greater than $500 million US.
An e mail searching for remark from representatives of Paramount was not instantly returned.
The lawsuit was filed below a California regulation quickly suspending the statute of limitations for little one intercourse abuse, which has led to a number of recent lawsuits and the revival of many others that had been beforehand dismissed.
Hussey defended the scene in a 2018 interview with Variety, which first reported the lawsuit, for the movie’s fiftieth anniversary.
“Nobody my age had done that before,” she mentioned, and went on to say that Zeffirelli shot it tastefully. “It was needed for the film.”
The Associated Press doesn’t sometimes title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused until they arrive ahead publicly, as Hussey and Whiting have.
