Willam Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet was first adapted into a film in 1968. The film starred Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting being directed by Franco Zeffirelli.

Recently, Hussey and Whiting filed a lawsuit against Paramount Studios accusing them of sexual exploitation and distributing nude images of adolescent children. Hussey and Whiting were 15 and 16 at the time.

In a CNN article, mentions that a copy of the suit was sent to them where it states that “the film’s director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019 and is not named as a defendant in the suit, assured the actors that there would be no nudity, and that they would be able to “wear flesh colored undergarments during the bedroom/love scene.””

However, as soon as production started and the movie was halfway done, CNN states that Zeffirelli later told the actors that they must act completely nude or the Picture would fail.

When the film was released in theaters included the scene where images of Whiting’s buttocks and Hussey’s bare breasts. This is also one of the complaints that has been stated in the lawsuit.

An article in CNN also states that the lawsuit seeks damages Hussey and Whiting believe to be in excess of $500 million. After the film was released with the scene both actors, now in their 70s, say that the scene has caused them mental and emotional distress since the release date. As well as  they have lost out on job opportunities as a result of the scene.

A business manager for both actors, Tony Matinozzi commented to Variety and written in the CNN article, “What they were told and what went on were two different things. They trusted Franco. At 16, as actors, they took his lead that he would not violate that trust they had. Franco was their friend, and frankly, at 16, what do they do? There are no options. There was no #MeToo.”