Actors Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting file lawsuit against Paramount for sexual exploitation in Romeo and Juliet of 1968. During that time the two were still teenagers, minors, and they were the center of a sex scene where they were shown partially naked. Although the scene was controversial for years, now the stage couple has called the courts to allege that such a sequence was shown without their consent.
Both Hussey and Whiting appeared in Santa Monica Superior Court on December 30 to file the complaint. They allege sexual exploitation by Paramount and accuse it of disseminating images of naked adolescent children.
The lawsuit claims (via) that both were assured that there would be no nudity in the film. Instead they would wear flesh colored outfits to simulate nudity, during a bed scene. However, in the last days of shooting, director Franco Zeffirelli begged them to do the sequence nude, or else the film would be a flop.
Zeffirelli showed Hussey, 15, and Whiting, 16, where the camera would be placed to show them that they would not be shown nude. But in the end the story was very different. The actress’s breasts were shown on stage, as well as the actor’s buttocks that appear exposed.
“What they were told and what happened were two different things,” said Tony Marinozzi, who represents both. «They trusted Franco. At 16, as actors, they took his initiative that he would not violate that trust they had. Franco was his friend, and honestly, at 16, what can they do? There are no options. There was no #MeToo.”
The lawsuit seeks damages believed to be in excess of $500 million. According to the writing, the two actors suffered mental and emotional anguish from the premiere of the film and during the 55 years that elapsed until then.
“Nude images of minors are illegal and should not be posted,” said lawyer for the actors, Solomon Gresen. “These were very young, naive kids in the ’60s who didn’t understand what was about to hit them. Suddenly, they became famous on a level they never expected, and on top of that, they were raped in a way they didn’t know how to handle.”
Despite the well-received performances of the two, their careers went downhill, after the premiere of Romeo and Julietby Paramount. Now Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting in their seventies are looking for some kind of compensation for the abuse committed between the director and the studio.
This lawsuit is based on a new rule of California Law. The same that suspended a clause that prevented making previous claims of child sexual abuse. Since its repeal, many complaints against Catholic organizations or the Boy Scouts of America have come together in the courts with increasing numbers.
Luis Angel H. Mora My most stable relationship is with the movies, parties and music. I love writing about cinema, meeting new people and sharing ideas. Idealistic in every way, I guess that’s my Ascendant Aquarian trait.