The actors who played Romeo and Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 picture are suing Paramount Pictures for child abuse over a brief naked scene, according to their lawyer.
Olivia Hussey was 15 years old and Leonard Whiting was 16 years old when they starred in the Academy Award-winning adaptation of William Shakespeare’s tragedy.
In a suit filed last week in Santa Monica, the actors, both in their 70s, say that a bedroom scene in which buttocks and bare breasts are exposed amounted to sexual exploitation by movie studio Paramount and that the corporation was guilty of sharing nude images of juveniles.
According to the claim, Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, cajoled them into executing the scene, telling them that without it, “the picture will fail,” while initially insisting on no genuine nudity, with both actors covered in flesh-colored underwear.
“Defendants were dishonest and secretly filmed the nude or partially nude minor children without their knowledge, in violation of the state and federal laws regulating indecency and exploitation of minors for profit,” the suit claims.
The complaint, which seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, argues that the two actors have experienced mental agony and emotional suffering in the five-and-a-half decades since the film’s release and that both have had only limited career success as a result.
Both received Golden Globe awards for their performances
According to Solomon Gresen, who represents the performers, the years that have passed since the film’s debut have not lessened the damage done, especially since it has been re-released.
“(Paramount) have images that they know are images of underage nudity that should be removed from the film. That would be the beginning for sure,” he said.
“Sexually explicit images of children are bad and they shouldn’t be tolerated.
“If they were under 16, then they’re under 16. It’s a sexually explicit image of an underage person, it should be forbidden.”
The deadline for filing historical child sex abuse lawsuits in California under a temporary waiver of the statutes of limitation was December 31.
Several claims were filed during the waiver period, including one this week by a lady who claimed to have been Aerosmith vocalist Steven Tyler’s teenage girlfriend in the 1970s.
Paramount did not respond immediately to AFP’s request for comment.
According to Variety, Hussey defended the naked scene, which she thought Zeffirelli had done tastefully, in a 2018 interview.
“It was needed for the film,” she told the outlet at the time.
