“Romeo and Juliet” Stars Sue Paramount for Kid Abuse Over Love Scene in 1968 Movie

The 2 stars of Franco Zeffirelli’s well-known 1968 film variation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet are taking legal action against Paramount over the movie’s naked scene, declaring it makes up kid sexual exploitation considering that they were both minors throughout the production.

They likewise implicate Zeffirelli, who passed away in 2019, of deceiving them into disrobing for the cam by guaranteeing that the ended up movie would not include nudity.

Casts Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting have actually submitted a joint suit in California versus Paramount, implicating the studio of sexually exploiting them and dispersing naked pictures of teen kids, according to a Range report

The stars– who were 15 and 16, respectively, throughout the recording– claim to have actually suffered psychological distress and psychological distress in the more than 5 years considering that the film’s release and are looking for damages “believed to be in excess of $500 million.”

Romeo and Juliet includes a bed room scene throughout which audiences can see Hussey’s bare breasts and Whiting’s butts.

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“Nude images of minors are unlawful and shouldn’t be exhibited,” the stars’ lawyer, Solomon Gresen, stated in an interview with Range “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.”

As summed up by the Associated Press, the fit declares “sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and fraud”:

Zeffirelli, who passed away in 2019, at first informed the 2 that they would use flesh-colored underwears in the bed room scene that comes late in the film and was shot on the last days of recording, the fit declares.

However on the early morning of the shoot, Zeffirelli informed Whiting, who played Romeo, and Hussey, who played Juliet, that they would use just body makeup, while still guaranteeing them the cam would be placed in a manner that would disappoint nudity, according to the fit.

Yet they were recorded in the naked without their understanding, in offense of California and federal laws versus indecency and the exploitation of kids, the fit states.

Zeffirelli informed them they should act in the naked “or the Picture would fail” and their professions would be injured, the fit stated. The stars “believed they had no choice but to act in the nude in body makeup as demanded.”

The suit is benefiting from a momentary California law referred to as Assembly Expense 218, which briefly reserved the statute of constraints for kid sexual attack allegations. The law, which was checked in 2019, opened a three-year window for victims and ended at the end of 2022.

The legislation has actually unlocked to a variety of high profile suits, consisting of one versus Aerosmith rocker Steven Tyler and another versus actor-director Warren Beatty.

The Romeo and Juliet suit is difficult since the 2 stars, who are now in their 70s, have actually continued promoting the film in the years considering that its release, consisting of throughout the TCM Classic Movie Celebration in 2018.

In a 2018 Range interview connected to the celebration screening, Hussey even safeguarded the naked scene.

“Nobody my age had done that before,” she stated, including that Zeffirelli shot it tastefully. “It was needed for the film.”

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