LOS ANGELES (AP) — The two stars of the 1968 “Romeo and Juliet” are suing Paramount Pictures for more than $500 million on Tuesday over a nude scene in the movie they shot as teenagers.
Olivia Hussey, then 15, now 71, and Leonard Whiting, then 16, now 72, filed lawsuits in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud.
Director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, initially told the pair they would wear flesh-colored underwear in the bedroom scene that comes at the end of the film and was shot in the final days of shooting, the suit claims.
But on the morning of filming, Zeffirelli told Whiting, who played Romeo, and Hussey, who played Juliet, that they would only wear body makeup, assuring them that the camera would be positioned so that show nudity, appropriate to the costume. . .
However, they were filmed naked without their knowledge, in violation of California and federal laws against child indecency and exploitation, the lawsuit states.
Zeffirelli told them they had to act naked “or the movie would flop” and their careers would be damaged, the suit says. The actors “believed they had no choice but to perform nude with body makeup as required”.
Whiting’s bare buttocks and Hussey’s bare breasts are shown briefly during the scene.
The film and its theme song were huge hits at the time and have since been introduced to generations of high school students studying Shakespeare’s work.
AP Photo/Eustache Cardenas, File
The court filing said Hussey and Whiting suffered decades of emotional damage and mental anguish, and each had careers that did not reflect the film’s success.
They say that given the pain and revenue the film has brought in since its release, the actors are entitled to more than $500 million in damages.
An emailed request for comment from Paramount representatives was not immediately returned.
The lawsuit was filed under a California law that temporarily suspends statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse, prompting a number of new lawsuits and the revival of several that had previously been filed.
Hussey defended the scene in a 2018 interview with Variety, which first reported the lawsuit, for the film’s 50th anniversary.
“No one my age has done this before,” she said, adding that Zeffirelli enjoyed filming her. “It was necessary for the film.”
The Associated Press does not routinely name people who say they were sexually abused unless they come forward, as Hussey and Whiting did.
