Olivia Hussey, who played Juliet when she was 15 years old and is currently 72, and Leonard Whiting, who was Romeo when he was 16 and is also 72, filed a case against Paramount Pictures. Superior Court Judge Alison Mackenzie granted the petition made by Paramount Pictures to have the action dismissed.
According to Mackenzie, the performers “have not put forth any authority indicating that the movie here can be considered to be substantially sexually explicit as a rule of law to be held to be held to be definitively illegal.” The performers’ attorney criticized the choice and said that a new Romeo And Juliet lawsuit will be filed in federal court.
Romeo And Juliet Lawsuit Dropped By Judge
Despite the brief nudity scene that quickly displays Whiting’s bare buttocks and Hussey’s naked breasts, the movie and its theme song were huge hits at the time, and it was shown to generations of school students studying Shakespeare’s tragedy.
The two were instructed to wear flesh-colored underwear in the bedroom scene, which appears late in the film and was shot on the last day of filming, according to the Romeo And Juliet lawsuit, which was filed by director Franco Zeffirelli, who passed away in 2019 at age 96.
On the day of the shoot, however, Zeffirelli instructed Whiting and Hussey to wear only body makeup while promising them that the camera would be set up to not capture nudity, according to the Romeo And Juliet lawsuit.
According to the Romeo And Juliet lawsuit, Zeffirelli instructed them to perform in the nude “or the Picture would Fail” and harm their careers. The actors claimed that the reverse happened, that neither had the successful careers that the movie implied, and that the deception, sexual abuse, and sexual harassment they had left them with long-term emotional harm and mental pain. More than $500 million in damages were claimed by them.
However, the judge determined that the plaintiffs “cherry-picked” from the legislation and could not present sufficient justification as to why it should apply to “purported pieces with artistic merit, like the award-winning film at issue here.”
The decision was based on a California law, which is frequently the first avenue for defense when litigation is filed and is designed to prevent defendants’ free speech from being stifled by lawsuits.
