Edited by: TJVNews.com
It seems that old grudges die hard. A recent report in the Wall Street Journal indicated that actors in a film that was made in 1968 are now filing suit alleging that they were sexually exploited during a nude scene in the film when they were teenagers.
The film in question was the 1968 version of the Shakespeare classic, “Romeo and Juliet’ and was directed by Franco Zeffirelli.
The WSJ reported that Olivia Hussey, who played Juliet, was 15 years old when the movie was filmed and Leonard Whiting, who played Romeo, was 16. Both are now in their 70s and allege that Paramount engaged in fraud, sexual abuse and sexual harassment, according to a complaint filed Friday in state Superior Court in Los Angeles County.
The director died in 2019 but according to Hussey and Whiting, they were told that for the bedroom scene, they would both appear in flesh-colored costumes, the complaint said, according to the WSJ report. The lawsuit said that the actors allege that on the day that the bedroom scene was to have been shot, they were then told that they were required to wear body makeup with the camera positioned in a way that wouldn’t show their nude bodies, the WSJ reported.
The lawsuit also stated that in violation of state and federal laws, the two underage actors were misled by the production team and without their knowledge and consent they were filmed in the nude.
The WSJ report indicated that the lawsuit said, “Defendants were dishonest and secretly filmed the nude or partially nude minor children without their knowledge. The knowing and repeated use of sexual images of minor children is the worst of behaviors in our society and must be eradicated.” The lawsuit also stated that Paramount Pictures was “repackaging what is essentially pornography.”
When asked for comments on the Hussey and Whitling lawsuit by the WSJ, Paramount provided no response. The WSJ also reported that the Franco Zeffirelli Foundation, an organization dedicated to the legacy of the director, also did not offer a response by the paper.
The lawsuit also stated that Zeffirelli told Hussey and Whitling that the movie would not succeed at the box office without the inclusion of the controversial scene and if the two would not agree to participate in it, it would end up damaging their careers are upcoming actors, the WSJ reported. The report also indicated that the two young actors at the time believed that they had no other option other than to have the bedroom scene shot with them wearing body makeup while being in the nude.
Movie goers recall that the scene shows the underage Hussey’s bare breasts and Whitling’s naked buttocks.
The lawsuit comes as a surprise to many as in 2018, Hussey said in an article published in Variety that the scene had been shot tastefully, the WSJ reported.
“Nobody my age had done that before,” Hussey said the 2018 Variety article. “It was needed for the film.”
The questions of why the two actors waited decades to file suit is unclear. The WSJ reported that because the statute of limitations had expired, the two actors were previously barred from filing a lawsuit, however, in 2019, California passed a law that lifted the statute of limitations for childhood sex abuse for a three-year period. That three-year window expired at the end of 2022. Many lawsuits were filed just ahead of the deadline against the Roman Catholic Church, the WSJ reported.
The lawsuit also said that the actors have suffered mental anguish and emotional stress since the film was released, to great fanfare, more than 50 years ago, as was reported by the WSJ. It was nominated for four Academy Awards.