Romeo and Juliet • Olivia Hussey 

Romeo and Juliet` Stars Sue Paramount for Child Abuse Over Nude Scene in 1968 Film

Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting have been simply young adults once they electrified audiences withinside the 1968 model of “Romeo and Juliet,” directed with the aid of using Franco Zeffirelli. The movie become successful and become nominated for 4 Academy Awards, however it additionally stirred controversy over a bed room scene which protected snap shots of Whiting`s buttocks and Hussey`s naked breasts.

Now of their 70s, Hussey and Whiting filed a lawsuit in Santa Monica Superior Court on Friday, accusing Paramount of sexually exploiting them and dispensing nude snap shots of adolescent children.

The healthy alleges that Zeffirelli — who died in 2019 — confident each actors that there could be no nudity withinside the movie,

and they could put on flesh-coloured undergarments withinside the bed room scene. But withinside the very last days of filming, the director allegedly implored them to carry out withinside the nude with frame makeup, “or the Picture could fail.”

Hussey become 15 on the time and Whiting become 16. According to the complaint,

Zeffirelli confirmed them wherein the digital digicam could be positioned, and confident them that no nudity could be photographed or launched withinside the movie. The healthy alleges that he become being cheating and that Whiting and Hussey have been in reality filmed nude with out their knowledge.

What they have been instructed and what went on have been one-of-a-kind things,” stated Tony Marinozzi,

who's a enterprise supervisor for each actors. “They depended on Franco. At 16, as actors, they took his lead that he could now no longer violate that accept as true with they had. Franco become their friend, and frankly, at 16, what do they do? There aren't anyt any options. There become no #MeToo.”

According to the complaint, Hussey

and Whiting have suffered intellectual discomfort and emotional misery withinside the fifty five years for the reason that movie`s release, and feature additionally misplaced out on task opportunities. Despite their breakout performances, Hussey and Whiting had handiest very restricted appearing careers after “Romeo and Juliet.”