Romeo and Juliet stars in 1968 movie receive second verdict in Paramount lawsuit over underage nude scene

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A lawsuit from the leading actors in 1968 Paramount movie Romeo and Juliet over a bedroom scene was dismissed for a second time in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday.

Actors Olivia Hussey, 73, who played Juliet at 16, and Leonard Whiting, 74, who played Romeo at 17, initially filed a lawsuit against the studio in December of 2022.

They said the film's late director, Franco Zeffirelli, had misled them into disrobing for nude scenes that made it into the motion picture - including imagery of Hussey's breasts and Whiting's behind.

Their suit was first tossed in May 2023, with the presiding judge at the time saying that the statute of limitations had passed.

Hussey and Whiting again filed a suit earlier this year, saying in legal docs in February that a 2023 re-release of the film by Criterion - that had been restored with digital technology - had opened a new window for legal action.

A lawsuit from Leonard Whiting, 74, and Olivia Hussey, 73, the leading actors in 1968 Paramount movie Romeo and Juliet, was dismissed for a second time in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday. Pictured in 2018 in LA 

Actors Leonard Whiting, 74, who played Romeo at 17, and Olivia Hussey, 73, who played Juliet at 16, pictured in the movie 

Judge Holly J. Fujie disagreed in her ruling Monday, Variety reported citing court docs, saying that 'a comparison of the 2023 release with the prior versions shows no significant visible improvement in the film, particularly in the Bedroom Scene, to the naked eye.'

Hussey and Whiting claimed in legal docs in their 2022 suit that their depiction in the film was akin to 'child pornography,' which Judge Alison Mackenzie disagreed with, saying in her ruling the bedroom scene was not 'sufficiently sexually suggestive' to justify the claim.

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Hussey and Whiting refiled the suit under state and federal laws against 'revenge pornography,' outlawing the release of explicit images of people without their consent.

Fujie said that the contracts Hussey and Whiting signed with the film's producers amounted to an act of consent.

Fujie cited the 'subsequent conduct in the decades that followed since the Film's original 1968 release' by Hussey and Whiting 'speaks to [their] implied ratification and approval of the Film, including the Bedroom Scene.'

Fujie said 'appearances and statements made by' Hussey and Whiting 'during interviews,' as well as their 'attendance at film festivals' indicated they 'did not object to the continuing release and distribution of the successive releases.'

The Shakespeare adaptation in question hit theaters on October 8, 1968, stirring up intrigue after Zeffirelli used the young actors in the titular roles. 

The motion picture received two Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design, also garnering nods for Best Picture and Best Director for Zeffirelli.

The actors said said the film's late director, Franco Zeffirelli, had misled them into disrobing for nude scenes that made it into the motion picture 

Their suit was first tossed in May 2023, with the presiding judge at the time saying that the statute of limitations had passed

Hussey in 2023 told Variety that she and Whiting 'felt exploited' after receiving one-time payments of $2,200 for their performances in the movie, which did not launch their careers as they would have hoped.

'Everyone says, "You must be so well off - you were in a classic,"' Hussey said. 'And we say, "No, we didn't get paid for that." We got minimum. We were always broke.

'I felt exploited, really. Looking back on all of that, Leonard and I, we felt exploited throughout.'

Hussey told the outlet that despite defending the bedroom scene for years, she was traumatized by it.

'We'd say, "Oh, it was art,"' she said. 'Everybody does nudity - no big deal. But really, deep down, my mom knew and my close friends knew it was traumatic. It wasn't something I ever agreed to do. I just did it because I felt like I couldn't say no. Leonard too.'

Hussey said that her mother was not present during the nude scene filming, and only told about it after it had occurred.

Whiting told the outlet in 2023 that he had not been 'mentally prepared' to be in a nude scene and was 'very uncomfortable' with it. He added: 'I believe the scene didn't require nudity, due to the fact that we were both underage. Olivia was very, very nervous and frightened as well, but we really were very fond of each other and we helped each other get through the whole thing.'

Whiting said his ire was not directed toward the late filmmaker Zeffirelli, who died at 96 in 2019: 'It's totally wrong to think there's a problem between Olivia and I and Franco. That's absolute nonsense.'

Hussey and Whiting again filed a suit earlier this year, saying in legal docs in February that a 2023 re-release of the film by Criterion - that had been restored with digital technology - had opened a new window for legal action

Hussey in 2023 said that she and Whiting 'felt exploited' after receiving one-time payments of $2,200 for their performances in the movie, which did not launch their careers as they would have hoped 

In May of 2023, Judge Mackenzie ruled in favor of a motion from defendant Paramount Pictures to dismiss the lawsuit, determining that the scene was protected by the First Amendment.

Mackenzie in her ruling said that the actors '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.'

In her written decision, she also found that the suit didn't fall within the bounds of a California law that temporarily suspended the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, and that a February re-release of the film did not change that.

Zeffirelli initially told the two that they would wear flesh-colored undergarments in the bedroom scene that comes late in the movie and was shot on the final days of filming, the suit alleged.

But on the morning of the shoot, Zeffirelli told Whiting and Hussey 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.

Despite those assurances, they were filmed in the nude without their knowledge, in violation of California and federal laws against indecency and the exploitation of children, the suit alleged.

Zeffirelli told them they must act in the nude 'or the Picture would fail' and their careers would be hurt, the suit said. 

Whiting told the outlet in 2023 that he had not been 'mentally prepared' to be in a nude scene and was 'very uncomfortable' with it

The judge Monday said the 'subsequent conduct in the decades that followed since the Film's original 1968 release' by Hussey and Whiting 'speaks to [their] implied ratification and approval of the Film, including the Bedroom Scene'

The actors said that the opposite occurred, that neither had the career the film's success suggested, and that the fraud, sexual abuse and sexual harassment they underwent caused them emotional damage and mental anguish for decades. They had sought more than $500 million in damages.

The judge, though, found that the plaintiffs 'cherry-picked' from the law and failed to provide legal authority for why it should apply to 'purported works of artistic merit, such as the award-winning film at issue here.'

She quoted from an appeals court precedent that said child pornography is 'particularly repulsive,' but 'not all images of nude children are pornographic.'

The ruling relied on California law that is meant to protect the free speech of defendants from being squelched by lawsuits, and is often the first line of defense when lawsuits are filed.

The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, which Hussey and Whiting did.