The film was shot in 1968, the two protagonists were minors at the time.
More than half a century has passed and Romeo and Juliet, Franco Zeffirelli’s masterpiece, is in danger of being implicated in a trial over one of the nude scenes involving the two protagonists, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, who were very young at the time and were filmed, were 15 and 16 years old and therefore a minor. According to reconstructions by the France Presse agency, the two actors have in fact taken legal action against Paramount Pictures, accusing the production of having broadcast an unauthorized scene.
Hussey and Whiting each received a Golden Globe for their performance in the film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s work. The two actors filed a complaint against Paramount, which produced the film, last week in Santa Monica, California, for sexually exploiting them by showing pictures of their buttocks and breasts. According to the citation consulted by AFP, Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, had been adamant that they shoot the scene or the film would have “failed” when it was originally set to be played in flesh-colored underwear. Those responsible for the film are accused of “illegally filming scenes with naked or semi-nude minors without their consent”. The two actors, who allegedly suffered from anxiety and mental distress in the more than fifty years after the film was made, have demanded 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. At the moment, Paramount has not commented on the news, while Variety magazine emphasized that Olivia Hussey defended the offending scene in a 2018 interview. “It was necessary for the film,” the actress commented.
January 4, 2023 (change January 4, 2023 | 03:49)
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