Son of Romeo and Juliet director slams stars over exploitation lawsuit

2023-01-09

Son of famed Romeo and Juliet director slams stars over their $500m ‘sexual exploitation’ lawsuit – saying one went to his dead dad’s funeral while the other continued to work with director after movie wrapped

Pippo Zeffirelli said it was ’embarrassing,’ that Olivia Hussey, 71, and Leonard Whiting, 72, waited 55 years to claim they were scarred by his father’s film
In a statement Sunday, Zeffirelli pointed out that Hussey willingly worked with his father on later films, and that Whiting attended Zeffirelli’s funeral in 2019
Hussey and Whiting filed a lawsuit in Santa Monica Superior Court in California last month accusing Paramount Pictures of sexual harassment and sexual abuse
They claimed director Franco Zeffirelli pressured them into a nude sex scene in the 1969 Romeo and Juliet film, and are seeking $500million in damages

The son of director Franco Zeffirelli spoke out against a $500million lawsuit over underage nude scenes in his father’s 1968 Romeo and Juliet movie.

Pippo Zeffirelli said it was ’embarrassing,’ that actors Olivia Hussey, 71, and Leonard Whiting, 72, waited 55 years to claim they’d spent their lives scarred by the film, in which they allege the Italian director pressured them into filming a nude sex scene when they were just 15 and 16.

Zeffirelli also pointed out that Hussey willingly worked with his father on later films, and that Whiting attended Zeffirelli’s funeral in 2019.

Hussey and Whiting filed a lawsuit in Santa Monica Superior Court in California last month accusing Paramount Pictures of sexual harassment, fraud, sexual abuse, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Pippo Zeffirelli (right) said it was ’embarrassing,’ that Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting waited 55 years to claim they were scarred by his father (left) Franco’s film

Olivia Hussey, 71, and Leonard Whiting, 72, filed a lawsuit against Paramount Studios in California seeking damages ‘believed to be in excess of 500 million’ (pictured in 2018)

In a statement Sunday, Zeffirelli also said he felt the nudity in the film was not pornographic, and that his father was an outspoken critic of pornography.

‘Zeffirelli himself was accused of being reactionary precisely because, over and over again, he spoke out against pornography,’ he said.

‘It is embarrassing to hear that today, 55 years after filming, two elderly actors who owe their notoriety essentially to this film wake up to declare that they have suffered an abuse that has caused them years of anxiety and emotional discomfort.’

‘It appears to me that in all these years, they have always maintained a relationship of deep gratitude and friendship towards Zeffirelli, releasing hundreds of interviews about the happy memory of their very fortunate experience, which was crowned with worldwide success,’ he said.

The lawsuit alleges that the teens ‘had no choice but to act in the nude with body makeup as demanded on the last day of filming,’ despite having originally been promised that no nudity would be filmed or released

The movie directed by Franco Zeffirelli (pictured with Hussey and Whiting at the movie’s Paris premiere) was released in 1968 to critical acclaim and earned the Italian filmmaker an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Zeffirelli died in 2019 at the age of 96

The actors both said the elder Zeffirelli originally told them there would not be any nudity in Romeo and Juliet.

But on the last day of shooting, they alleged he said the film ‘would fail’ unless they performed a scene nude while wearing body makeup.

‘What they were told and what went on were two different things,’ said Tony Marinozzi, business manager for the pair, in a statement.

‘They trusted Franco. At 16, as actors, they took his lead that he would not violate that trust they had,’ the manager said.

‘Franco was their friend, and frankly, at 16, what do they do?’ Marinozzi added in a statement to the outlet. ‘There are no options. There was no #MeToo.’

The lawsuit alleged the pair were filmed nude without their knowing, and they are now seeking damages ‘believed to be in excess of $500 million.’

Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting on the set of the 1968 film production of Romeo and Juliet

In the lawsuit Hussey and Whiting are accusing Paramount Pictures, which released the film of sexual harassment, fraud, sexual abuse, and intentional infliction of emotional distress

The lawsuit alleged Zeffirelli showed the actors where the camera would be placed but that no nudity would be filmed or finally released.

The actors said they thought ‘they had no choice but to act in the nude with body makeup as demanded on the last day of filming.’

The movie was released in 1968 to critical acclaim and earned Zeffirelli an Academy Award nomination for Best Director.

He died in 2019 at the age of 96.

In a statement to Variety, Solomon Gresen, attorney for the pair, said the actors ‘were very young naïve children in the ’60s who had no understanding of what was about to hit them’ and that the scene caused them long-term financial, physical, and emotional pain

In a statement to Variety, Solomon Gresen, the attorney for the actors said they ‘were very young naïve children in the ’60s who had no understanding of what was about to hit them.’

The pair said the scene caused them long-term financial, physical, and emotional pain.

They said the film also cost Hussey and Whiting ‘a lifetime of loss of earnings and other employment benefits and job opportunities,’ according to the complaint.

‘All of a sudden they were famous at a level they never expected, and in addition they were violated in a way they didn’t know how to deal with,’ Gresen said.

The $500 million in damages the pair is seeking matches the amount the film made since its 1968 release.

According to Variety, the actors’ lawsuit relies on a California law that temporarily suspended the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse claims.

That law had a December 31, 2022 deadline.

The actors’ lawsuit relies on a California law that temporarily suspended the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse claims. That law had a December 31, 2022 deadline

The $500 million in damages the pair is seeking matches the amount the film has made since its release in 1968

Hussey continued to pursue her acting career and even reunited with Zeffirelli to play Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the director’s acclaimed 1977 mini-series Jesus Of Nazareth.

In an interview from 2018, Hussey claimed Zeffirelli referred to her as ‘Boobs O’Mina’ and that he had admitted she was the unrequited love of his life.

At the time, Hussey also said she ‘loved playing Juliet’ but that the press was ‘exhausting.’

Whiting also went on to enjoy a career as an actor and singer in his native Britain.

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