Romeo and Juliet stars Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting sue over 1968 movie’s teen nude scene1 hour in the past

The 2 stars of 1968’s Romeo and Juliet sued Paramount Footage for greater than US$500-million 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 docket alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud.

Director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, initially informed the 2 that they’d 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.

However on the morning of the shoot, Zeffirelli informed 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 means that might not present nudity, in keeping with the go well with.

But they had been filmed within the nude with out their information, in violation of California and federal legal guidelines in opposition to indecency and the exploitation of kids, the go well with says.

Zeffirelli informed them they have to act within the nude “or the Image would fail” and their careers can be damage, the go well with mentioned. The actors “believed that they had 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 in the course of the scene.

The movie, and its theme tune, had been main hits on the time, and has been proven to generations of highschool college students finding out the Shakespeare play since.

The courtroom submitting says the Hussey and Whiting have suffered emotional harm and psychological anguish for many years, and that every had careers that didn’t replicate 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 US$500-million.

An e-mail in search of remark from representatives of Paramount was not instantly returned.

The lawsuit was filed below a California legislation quickly suspending the statute of limitations for youngster intercourse abuse, which has led to a bunch of recent lawsuits and the revival of many others that had been beforehand dismissed.

Hussey defended the scene in a 2018 interview with Selection, which first reported the lawsuit, for the movie’s fiftieth anniversary.

“No one my age had finished that earlier than,” she mentioned, including that Zeffirelli shot it tastefully. “It was wanted for the movie.”

The Related Press doesn’t usually title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused until they arrive ahead publicly, as Hussey and Whiting have.