Director Franco Zeffirelli's son says 'Romeo and Juliet' stars Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey 'owe their notoriety essentially to this film.'
“It is embarrassing to hear that today, 55 years after filming, two elderly actors who owe their notoriety essentially to this film wake up to declare that they have suffered an abuse that has caused them years of anxiety and emotional discomfort,” Pippo Zeffirelli said.
Whiting, who played Romeo Montague when he was 16, and Hussey, who played Juliet Capulet when she was 15, are suing Paramount, accusing the studio of sexual harassmentover the 1968 film’s controversial nude scene: a bedroom sequence in which Whiting’s bare buttocks and Hussey’s bare breasts are visible.
The lawsuit states that the child actors were allegedly covered with nude body makeup and “believed they had no choice but to act in the nude ... as demanded.” By releasing the movie, Paramount then distributed “what is essentially pornography and evidence of a crime ... for profit,” the complaint alleges.
On Friday, Pippo Zeffirelli defended his father and argued that the nude scene is “far from pornographic.” He also said he believed “Romeo and Juliet” producers John Brabourne and Anthony Havelock-Allan obtained consent forms at the time from the actors’ parents.
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