Stars of 1968 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet sue Paramount for $500m for 'forcing them' into a sex scene when they were just 15 and 16 years old

[Friday Fan]

OK...They've only had 56 years to sue! I'm sure the SOL has long run out!

• Olivia Hussey, 71, and Leonard Whiting, 72, filed a lawsuit on Friday in California
• The complaint accuses the studio of sexual harassment, abuse, and fraud
• They are seeking damages 'believed to be in excess of $500 million'
• The film was directed by Italian filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli and released through Paramount Pictures
• Zeffirelli, who earned an Oscar nomination for best director for it, died in 2019
• The British actors claim they were originally told no nudity would be filmed or released

I remember his butt cheeks showed for 2 seconds. My friend and I giggled. I believe her breasts were shown, but I didn't pay attention to that part.

Stars of 1968 'Romeo and Juliet' sue Paramount over nude scene

The stars of 1968's 'Romeo and Juliet' are suing over the nude scene they filmed when they were just 15 and 16 years old.

www.dailymail.co.uk

http://[IMG]https://i.dailymail.co....6171811-11596765-image-m-63_1672791041763.jpg

http://[IMG]https://i.dailymail.co....erm_financial_physical-m-28_1672801247859.jpg

 

[HmmMysterious]

I hope they win. Hussey couldn’t even attend the premiere because it was rated R. She also said the director fell in love with her while he filmed this which is really gross

 

[Friday Fan]

I hope they win. Hussey couldn’t even attend the premiere because it was rated R. She also said the director fell in love with her while he filmed this which is really gross

I don't believe it was rated R.

I was 12 when this movie came out in 1968 and saw it when I was 12. My parents would have never taken me to see an R rated movie back then. I went with my friend and it was at the military base matinee where they really didn't allow R rated movies.

Hussey worked for the director again in 1977.

 

[Susikatze]

It was not R rated but I believe there was a "censored" version in cinema that cut out the very long shot of Whitings fully exposed back and bum standing up. Where you indeed only saw his butt cheek lying down for 2 seconds.
Hussey I believe is barebreasted for a very short split second in all versions. Hard to even see. But no idea, maybe the original footage had more but was never released.

 

[Friday Fan]

It was not R rated but I believe there was a "censored" version in cinema that cut out the very long shot of Whitings fully exposed back and bum standing up. Where you indeed only saw his butt cheek lying down for 2 seconds.
Hussey I believe is barebreasted for a very short split second in all versions. Hard to even see. But no idea, maybe the original footage had more but was never released.

Yes, we only saw the butt cheek lying down. Did not see any butt cheek standing up. Vividly remember. We were 12. He was so hot and then the butt cheek and we giggled. I really didn't notice her because I'm a she.

I just recently noticed on footage they show alot of cleavage in other scenes (Never noticed this before)

I think they may deserved to be awarded like $100,000 because of what was involved (There really was no need for the nude scene)

Everything in the movie was tastefully done and do not believe there was exploitation etc.

Their careers were not ruined as a matter of fact, they were everywhere. (Tigerbeat, 16...all the teen mags)
Olivia was beautiful and Leonard was hot...However, they would have been everywhere without the nude scene.
Maybe they didn't like or expect all the attention and fame, but it was not due to a nude scene.

The attention was due to two beautiful young people playing classic Shakespeare at time when rock, bubble gum and hippies were all competing for young people's attention.

 

[Vail]

This is ridiculous IMO - These kinds of cases drum up a lot of media attention and take it away from the sexual abuse victims that really need to be heard. The actors are aware of the scenes and script beforehand, there are rehearsals, ample opportunity for both the parents and the actors to say no, for their agents to intervene. Unless there is evidence of actual forced sexual conduct, or some kind of long term trauma, this is just frivolous and the fact they are both teamed up to do it says enough. It would be nice if we could apply today's laws and sentiments to the past (when being wiser is the advantage) but we can't, not now on the 60s and not on the fictional medieval era where 16 are fledged adults.

 

[HMSHood]

I don't believe it was rated R.

I was 12 when this movie came out in 1968 and saw it when I was 12. My parents would have never taken me to see an R rated movie back then. I went with my friend and it was at the military base matinee where they really didn't allow R rated movies.

Hussey worked for the director again in 1977.

It was not R rated but I believe there was a "censored" version in cinema that cut out the very long shot of Whitings fully exposed back and bum standing up. Where you indeed only saw his butt cheek lying down for 2 seconds.
Hussey I believe is barebreasted for a very short split second in all versions. Hard to even see. But no idea, maybe the original footage had more but was never released.

The R rating did not appear until 1969.

Motion Picture Ratings

The First Amendment limits the degree to which governments can censor movies. The Motion Picture Association of America uses a voluntary system of movie ratings to inform parents.

www.mtsu.edu

 

[doublestop]

It likely was rated M, for mature audiences.

 

[raja]

Heart be still…I loved this movie. My high school English class went to see it on a field trip. I didn’t even remember nudity just that it was such a beautiful movie.

 

[Tower]

I do think their parents should have done a better job of protecting them if they were only 15 and 16. They were exploited for their attractiveness and their parents were happy to take the money. All adults involved failed them.

I do not believe a 15-year-old entirely knows what they’re getting in to, which is why we benefit from the wisdom of parents. There are many parents then and now who don’t care about protecting their children. Jmo

 

[mickey2942]

Seriously? Wasn't this a "parenting fail"?

 

[arielilane]

A judge in California on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit brought by the lead actors in the 1968 film adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” against Paramount Pictures over a scene in which their characters wake up in bed together nude.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1661919603180679171

https://twitter.com/nytimes

 

[helpfulcharlie]

I'm sincerely curious, was this lawsuit a strategic maneuver or a financial dice-roll? I can't imagine a world in which this would have succeeded.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Judge throws out 'Romeo & Juliet' actors' lawsuit that says they were forced to do nude scene as teens

The judge ruled in favor of the defense after finding that the lawsuit brought by Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting was brought too late.

www.nbcnews.com

A Los Angeles County judge on Thursday said she will dismiss a lawsuit that the stars of 1968′s “Romeo and Juliet” filed over the film’s nude scene, finding that their depiction could not be considered child *advertiser censored* and they filed their claim too late.

Superior Court Judge Alison Mackenzie ruled in favor of a motion from defendant Paramount Pictures to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Olivia Hussey, who played Juliet at age 15 and is now 72, and Leonard Whiting, who played Romeo at 16 and is also 72.

Mackenzie determined that the scene was protected by the First Amendment, finding that the actors “have not put forth any authority showing the film here can be deemed to be sufficiently sexually suggestive as a matter of law to be held to be conclusively illegal.”...

 

[everybodhi]

Hollywood still has a power problem when it comes to filming intimate scenes | Movies | The Guardian

I have worked in the industry for almost as long as an intimacy coordinator can have, given that the role officially originated in 2017.

In the case of Hussey and Whiting, it appears that in early conversations they were assured that they would not have to perform nude. Later in the shoot, Zeffirelli reportedly changed his mind.

Ensuring informed consent when working with an underaged actor is morally ambiguous at best, but there are some hard lines. Child actors cannot legally consent for themselves, nor can they legally perform nude on camera, especially not in a sexual context. Hussey and Whiting were 15 and 16, respectively, when they were filmed naked in Zeffirelli’s classic, ages that would exclude them from the same situation today. (BBM)

Many professionals still fail to see why the risks of psychological injury on set deserve the same attention as the risks of physical injury. For actors, who rely on their emotional capacity to do their jobs, a psychological trauma on set can be career-ending (see Last Tango in Paris for a harrowing example). <Warning, that link is graphic and upsetting

 

[everybodhi]

Hollywood Power Abuse: Pressure On Young Actors To Do Nude Scenes

The then-teenage actors filed a lawsuit this week, arguing that director Franco Zeffirelli forced them to perform in the nude, despite promises to the contrary.

The allegations not only sound plausible but also very familiar: I know several actors (all of them women) who were initially told they wouldn’t have to perform nude or topless, only to be aggressively encouraged to do otherwise once they arrived on set.

They allege that Zeffirelli told them their bodies would be covered with flesh-colored undergarments.
But on the day of the shooting, one of the last in the production, Hussey and Whiting said in court documents that Zeffirelli told them “they must act in the nude or the picture would fail. Millions were invested. They would never work again in any profession, let alone Hollywood.”

 

[Ozoner]

I don't see nudity as that big of a deal. I've seen that movie, and it only shows the girl's breasts and the boys buttocks. Women go to the beach topless throughout Europe and Australia all the time. Only the most Victorian of prudes cares about toplessness. I visited Europe when I was 20, and seeing topless women at the beach was exciting for about a day. After that, I was like, "Ah, who cares."

A bare-butt shot is even less of a big deal, if that's possible.

Even if the movie had shown full frontal nudity—which it didn't—so what? Most professional actors and actresses end up being nude on stage or in film at some point. Theater should attempt to imitate real life, and people are nude in real life.

This is a money grab, pure and simple.

Everything above is IMHO.