Biggest hit with $100 million sexual assault lawsuit by stars of 1968 film Romeo & Juliet

Almost 55 years after Franco Zeffirelli’s Oscar-nominated film adaptation Romeo and Juliet came out, the film’s then-young stars are now suing Paramount Pictures for more than $100 million for alleged sexual assault, negligence and more.

“The defendants acted dishonestly and secretly filmed the naked or partially naked minor children without their knowledge, in violation of state and federal laws governing the sexual abuse and exploitation of children,” said Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting. “The plaintiffs have suffered and continue to suffer physical pain and mental anguish, together with extreme and severe mental anguish and emotional distress,” reads the lawsuit (read here) for the Oscar-nominated film for best picture based on the William Shakespeare classic story of a lost couple. further to say.

In their own Shakespeare drama, which the studio estimated made more than $500 million from the Zeffirelli adaptation, Hussey and Whiting are seeking more than $100 million in punitive and exemplary damages. With Encino, Calif.-based attorney Solomon Gresen handling their case, the duo is also dealing with “compensatory, economic and non-economic damages as proven, and the return of economic benefits to Paramount.”

Seemingly confusing a December 1967 date for 1968, the year the film was released, the filing details as December 30, 2022:

At the time of filming Mr. Whiting (Romeo) 16 and mrs. Hussey was also 15. The plaintiffs were by mr. Zeffirelli was informed that no nudity would be filmed or displayed and that the plaintiffs would wear flesh-colored underwear during the bedroom/love scene. On the morning of the shooting of the bedroom scene in the second week of December 1968, the very last days of photography, the bodies of the plaintiffs’ minor children were prepared and by Mr. Zeffirelli instructed to appear naked. otherwise the photo would fail. Millions have been invested. They will never work in any profession again, let alone in Hollywood. Zeffirelli showed them where the cameras would be set up so that no nudity would be filmed or photographed Romeo and Juliet or anywhere. The plaintiffs believed they had no choice but to perform nude with body makeup on for the final days of filming, as requested.

Paramount did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment on the seven-claim lawsuit.

Zeffirelli, who was a victim of sexual harassment and assault in the past, died in 2019 and is not a defendant in this lawsuit.

Caused a stir at the time due to the nudity in the film, Romeo and Juliet was a box office hit when it came out in March 1968. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won trophies for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design. Both Whiting and Hussey won Golden Globes for their performances.

As recently as 2018, Hussey spoke about the need for nudity in film. In the midst of promoting her then-just-released memoir, she told Fox News the nudity was “not that big of a deal.” That Jesus of Nazareth Veteran also noted in another interview that same year that when they were young, she and Whiting were both theater vets and “we were very aware of that.”

It is clear that she and Whiting now take a different stance on the matter.

“It took a lot of courage for both Olivia and Leonard to face the sex exploitation/sexualization[van minderjariges]to confront what happened back then and unfortunately still permeates our society today,” the duo’s manager Tony Marinozzi told Deadline Today about the lawsuit. “The #MeToo movement and other similar support groups have provided a platform for Olivia and Leonard to finally apprehend those responsible for this abuse.”

Marinozzi has been Hussey’s manager since October 2020 and has worked with Whiting, now 72, since February 2022.

The timing of the filing late last week in Los Angeles Superior Court came just hours before the Dec. 31 expiration of California’s nearly three-year extension of the waiver of the statute of limitations for child sex abuse claims.