The stars of Romeo and Juliet — no, not the one with Leonardo DiCaprio but the one with that awkward nude scene — are taking legal action against Paramount. You may remember having to watch the 1968 film directed by Franco Zeffirelli in your high school English class or seeing it on late-night TV.
It features its young stars Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting in a revealing scene, which isn’t unheard of nowadays, but the stars say they were only 15 and 16 when it was filmed.
Hussey and Whiting, now in their 70s, have come together to file a lawsuit against Paramount for sexually exploiting them and distributing nude images of adolescent children. Hussey’s bare breasts and Whiting’s buttocks can be seen in the film.
They are accusing Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, of assuring them that there would be no nudity in the final film. The suit claims that the director promised the teens they would wear flesh-colored undergarments in the now-infamous bedroom scene.
But when it came time to film the scene, the director allegedly pressured them to perform nude, “or the Picture would fail,” Today reports.
According to the lawsuit, the director showed them where the cameras would be pointed when they filmed the scene and assured the pair that no nudity would be released or even photographed.
The two stars claim they were lied to and their full bodies were filmed without their knowledge.
"What they were told and what went on were two different things," said Tony Marinozzi, a representative for the actors, according to Today. "They trusted Franco. At 16, as actors, they took his lead that he would not violate that trust they had."
"Franco was their friend, and frankly, at 16, what do they do? There are no options. There was no #MeToo," he added.
The complaint says that Hussey and Whiting suffered mental health issues after filming the scene.
It notes that they’ve lost out on job opportunities as well. Although the roles propelled them into stardom during the film’s run, the two actors rarely appeared in much else following the film's release.
“Nude images of minors are unlawful and shouldn’t be exhibited,” said the actors’ attorney, Solomon Gresen, in an interview, as per Today.
“These were very young naive children in the ’60s who had no understanding of what was about to hit them. All of a sudden they were famous at a level they never expected, and in addition they were violated in a way they didn’t know how to deal with.”
They are seeking damages of around $500 million.
