The two leads in the 1968 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet are suing Paramount for child molestation over a nude scene in the film.
According to Variety, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, who were teenagers when they made the Oscar-winning film, filed a lawsuit Dec. 30 accusing the studio of sexual exploitation.
In the suit, the pair claim director Franco Zeffirelli told them there would be no nudity and flesh-colored objects would be worn in the bedroom scene, but he later insisted they perform nude “or the film would fail.” Zeffirelli passed away in 2019.
“What they were told and what happened were two different things,” said Tony Marinozzi, a business manager for the two actors. “They trusted Franco. At 16, as an actor, they took his lead that he would not violate that trust they had. Franco was her boyfriend, and honestly what do you do when you’re 16? There are no options. There was no #MeToo.”
Hussey was 15 and Whiting was 16 at the time of production. The complaint alleges the couple have endured “mental anguish and emotional distress” and missed work opportunities in the years since. Damages are being demanded “estimated at over $500 million.”
“These were very young, naïve kids in their ’60s who didn’t understand what was about to hit them,” said Solomon Gresen, a lawyer for the couple. “All of a sudden, they were famous on a level they never expected, plus they were being abused in ways they didn’t know how to handle.”
In an interview with the Guardian in 2018, Hussey said: “I loved playing Juliet. The only part I didn’t like was all the PR. It was exhausting.” She also claimed that Zeffirelli called her “Boobs O’Mina” on set, before later admitting that she was the unrequited love of his life.
Romeo and Juliet was a box office hit at the time and received four Oscar nominations, including two for best cinematography and best costume design.
The lawsuit comes at the end of a temporary suspension of California’s statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases. Over the last week, before the December 31 deadline, there has been a spate of further lawsuits.
Paramount has not yet responded to the request.