‘Romeo and Juliet’ stars sue Paramount over expletive scene after defending it in 2018

Romeo and Juliet leading actors Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting filed a lawsuit against Paramount for forcing them to do a nude scene in the 1968 version of the movie. 

Despite of being a mega hit at that time, the film sparked a controversy over a bedroom scene which included images of Whiting’s buttocks and Hussey’s skimpy clothes.

Both Hussey and Whiting, who are in their 70s now, have filed a lawsuit in Santa Monica Superior Court on Friday against Paramount for sexually exploiting them.

According to the suit, the director Franco Zeffirelli who died in 2019 assured the actors of having no nudity in the movie. He also made sure that the actors would wear flesh-colored undergarments in the bedroom scene.

But in the final days of production, the director allegedly implored them to act in the nude with body makeup, “or the Picture would fail.”

Hussey was 15 at the time and Whiting was 16. According to the complaint, Zeffirelli also showed them where the camera would be positioned, and told them that no nudity would be photographed or showcase in the film.

The suit explains that the movie creator was being dishonest and Whiting and Hussey were recorded nude without their knowledge.

“What they were told and what went on were two different things,” said Tony Marinozzi, who is a business manager for both actors.

“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.”

As per the complaint both the actors went through mental and emotional distress in 55 years and have lost out on many opportunities.

They are seeking damages “believed to be in excess of $500 million.”

“Nude images of minors are unlawful and shouldn’t be exhibited,” said the actors’ attorney, Solomon Gresen, in an interview.

“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.”

However, in a 2018 interview with Variety, Hussey defended the nude scene saying, “Nobody my age had done that before,” 

she further added that Zeffirelli shot it tastefully. “It was needed for the film.”

In another 2018 interview with Fox News, she said that the scene was “taboo” in America, but that nudity was already common in European films at the time.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal,” she said. “And Leonard wasn’t shy at all! In the middle of shooting, I just completely forgot I didn’t have clothes on.”