55 years later: ‘Romeo and Juliet’ actors sue movie studio accusing it of sexual abuse

55 years later, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, who starred in the 1968 movie Romeo and Juliet, sued Paramount Studios. Variety writes about it. Recall that the film was directed by Franco Zeffirelli.

Players accused the company of literally all deadly sins: sexual exploitation, fraud, negligence, causing moral damage and much more.

It is also reported that Zeffirelli completely deceived the young players. According to the documents, the director promised that the audience would not see their naked bodies and would wear special underwear during the sleep scenes. But during the shooting process, the director asked them to shoot nude (with make-up), otherwise the scene will fail. As a result, the lawsuit says this episode was filmed without their knowledge. Then the actors were very young: Hussey was 15, Whiting was 16. The players demanded $500 million in damages.

However, we remember that in an interview Hussie claimed that in the nude scenes she felt absolutely calm. “Leonard was not shy at all. The actor said in a conversation with Fox News that at one point I even forgot that I wasn’t wearing any clothes.”