Romeo and Juliet stars sue ParamountPics for underage nude scene 55 years later
Hussey and Whiting, who were 15 and 16, respectively, at the time of filming, also alleged they endured sexual harassment and fraud when told by director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, that they must act in the nude with only body makeup during a bedroom scene toward the end of the movie, according to the Associated Press.
Yet the lawsuit states they were filmed in the nude without their knowledge, which is a violation of California and federal laws against child exploitation and indecency. “Nude images of minors are unlawful and shouldn’t be exhibited,” the actors’ attorney Solomon Gresen told Variety. “These were very young naive children in the ’60s who had no understanding of what was about to hit them. All of a sudden, they were famous at a level they never expected, and in addition, they were violated in a way they didn’t know how to deal with.”
Hussey and Whiting claim Zeffirelli told them they must go through with the scene in the nude “or the Picture would fail,” leading them to believe “they had no choice but to act in the nude in body makeup as demanded,” according to the lawsuit.The lawsuit depends, in part, on a California law that has temporarily suspended the statute of limitations for child sex abuse claims.
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