The two actors, who played famous teenage lovers Romeo and Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy, have filed a complaint against studio Paramount Pictures over a scene of non-consensual nudity, their lawyer said on Tuesday.
Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, who were 15 and 16 respectively at the time of filming, each received a Golden Globe for their performance in the film.
The two actors, now in their 70s, filed a lawsuit in Santa Monica, California last week, accusing the Paramount studio, which produced the film, of sexually exploiting them as minors by airing an intimate scene that revealed their nudity buttocks and breasts.
According to this complaint, consulted by AFP, Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, was adamant that they shoot this scene, otherwise “the film would fail”, although it was originally intended to be shot with flesh-colored underwear.
The complaint alleges those responsible for the film were “dishonest and secretly filmed nude or partially nude minors without their consent, in violation of laws (…) governing indecency and the sexual exploitation of minors”.
According to the document, the two actors suffered from anxiety and emotional distress in the more than five decades following the film. They are asking for hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.
According to her attorney, Solomon Gresen, the damage sustained has continued over the years, particularly with the release of a new version of the film.
The Paramount studio “has pictures of naked minors that they know should be removed from the film,” he told AFP. “Sexual imagery of children is serious and should not be tolerated.”
Contacted by AFP, Paramount did not immediately respond to comment on the complaint.
Variety magazine pointed out that Olivia Hussey defended the offensive scene in her columns during a 2018 interview. At the time, she believed Franco Zeffirelli shot her appropriately.
“It was necessary for the film,” she said at the time.