The 2 stars of the 1968 film model of Romeo and Juliet have sued Paramount Photos for greater than $500 million over a nude scene within the movie shot once they had been youngsters.
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 docket alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Trailer for Romeo and Juliet 1968
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Director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, initially advised the 2 that they’d put on flesh-colored underwear 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.
However on the morning of the shoot, Zeffirelli advised Whiting, who performed Romeo, and Hussey, who performed Juliet, that they’d put on solely physique make-up, whereas nonetheless assuring them the digital camera can be positioned in a manner that may not present nudity.
But they had been filmed within the nude with out their data, in violation of California and federal legal guidelines in opposition to indecency and the exploitation of youngsters, the go well with says.
Zeffirelli advised them they have to act within the nude “or the image would fail” and their careers can be damage, the go well with mentioned.
‘had no alternative’
The actors “believed they’d no alternative however to behave within the nude in physique make-up as demanded.”
Whiting’s naked buttocks and Hussey’s naked breasts are briefly proven throughout the scene.
The movie, and its theme track, had been main hits on the time, and has been proven to generations of highschool college students learning the Shakespeare play since.
The court docket submitting says the Hussey and Whiting have suffered emotional harm and psychological anguish for many years, and that every had careers that didn’t mirror the success of the film.
It says on condition that struggling and the income introduced in by the movie since its launch, the actors are entitled to damages of greater than $500 million.
An e mail in search of remark from representatives of Paramount was not instantly returned.
The lawsuit was filed below a California regulation briefly suspending the statute of limitations for baby intercourse abuse, which has led to a bunch of latest lawsuits and the revival of many others that had been beforehand dismissed.
Hussey defended the scene in a 2018 interview with Varietywhich first reported the lawsuit, for the movie’s 50th anniversary.
“No one my age had finished that earlier than,” she mentioned, including that Zeffirelli shot it tastefully.
“It was wanted for the movie.”
However a enterprise supervisor for each actors mentioned “what they had been advised and what went on had been two various things.”
‘There was no #MeToo’
“They trusted Franco,” he mentioned.
“At 16, as actors, they took his lead that he wouldn’t violate that belief they’d.
“Franco was their buddy, and albeit, at 16, what do they do? There aren’t any choices.
“There was no #MeToo.”
“Nude photographs of minors are illegal and shouldn’t be exhibited,” mentioned the actors’ lawyer, Solomon Gresen, in an interview.
“These had been very younger naive youngsters within the ’60s who had no understanding of what was about to hit them.
“Abruptly they had been well-known at a stage they by no means anticipated, and as well as they had been violated in a manner they did not know take care of.”
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