The stars, who were teenagers at the time, “believed they had no choice but to act in the nude in body makeup as demanded,” the suit says.
Olivia Hussey, then 15 and now 71, and Leonard Whiting, then 16 now 72, filed the suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud.
But on the morning of the shoot, Zeffirelli told Whiting, who played Romeo, and Hussey, who played Juliet, that they would wear only body makeup, while still assuring them the camera would be positioned in a way that would not show nudity, according to the suit. Zeffirelli told them they must act in the nude “or the Picture would fail” and their careers would be hurt, the suit said. The actors “believed they had no choice but to act in the nude in body makeup as demanded.”The film, and its theme song, were major hits at the time, and has been shown to generations of high school students studying the Shakespeare play since.
It says given that suffering and the revenue brought in by the film since its release, the actors are entitled to damages of more than $500 million.The lawsuit was filed under a California law temporarily suspending the statute of limitations for child sex abuse, which has led to a host of new lawsuits and the revival of many others that were previously dismissed.
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