Lawsuit over Romeo and Juliet underage nude scene dismissed

Earlier we reported that the lead actors of the 1968 Romeo and Juliet film, Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey filed a lawsuit accusing Paramount Pictures of sexually exploiting them and distributing nude images of adolescent children. The actors who are in their 70s now, were teenagers when the film was released.

On Thursday, the suit was however thrown out by a judge, according to a report by Variety. Judge Alison Mackenzie threw out the suit noting that the plaintiffs failed to comply with the provisions of a California law that temporarily suspended the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases. Regarding the suit, the judge wrote:

“Plaintiffs have not put forth any authority showing the film here can be deemed to be sufficiently sexually suggestive as a matter of law to be held to be conclusively illegal. Plaintiffs’ argument on the subject is limited to cherry-picked language from federal and state statutes without offering any authority regarding the interpretation or application of those statutory provisions to purported works of artistic merit, such as the award-winning film at issue here.”

In 1968, director Franco Zeffirelli helmed Romeo and Juliet based on Shakespeare’s novel. Actor Leonard Whiting and actor Olivia Hussey played Romeo and Juliet respectively in the film. The film distributed by Paramount Pictures was a success. It received four Academy Award nominations of which it won 2 for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design. However, some reports also suggested that the film was in controversy for a nude bedroom scene that it had. 

The lawsuit also alleged that director Zeffirelli vouched that there would be no nudity in the film and that they would be wearing body-coloured undergarments in that particular bedroom scene. Hussey was 15 at the time, while Whiting was 16. The complaint alleged that the actors were filmed nude without their knowledge. Zeffirelli was not one of the defendants as he passed away in 2019.