Hussey and Whiting, who were 15 and 16 at the time of the film, accused director Franco Zeffirelli of lying to them and exposing nudity.
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The actress Olivia Hussey and the actor Leonard Whiting sued the film studios Outstanding for sexual exploitation of children because of a nude scene in the film “Romeo and Juliet‘, from 1968 when they were both teenagers. Variety magazine announced that the stars of the film, directed by Franco Zeffirelli (19232019), have filed a lawsuit in Santa Monica Superior Court accusing Paramount of sexually exploiting them both and distributing images of naked teenagers to have. The lawsuit alleges that the film’s director promised the actors that the film would not feature nudity and that they would instead wear their skincolored underwear in the bed scene required for the narrative. According to the artists, days before filming began, Zeffirelli asked then15yearold Hussey and 16yearold Whiting to act nude with body makeup on or the film would fail, and promised not to photograph or publicize nudity , which broke the promise itself . Actors calculate damage in excess of US$500 million (R$2,740 million) and claim that both have been emotionally affected since the film’s release and have been limited in their employment opportunities as a result. “Nude pictures of minors are illegal and should not be shown,” the actors’ attorney, Solomon Gresen, told Variety. The lawsuit was filed under the Child Victims Act by Californiawhich allows survivors of child sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits and temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on prior allegations of child sexual abuse.
*With information from EFE