Since the late 1960s, Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of Romeo & Juliet has generally
been considered the best version of the Shakespearean classic on film.
However, recent news is set to damage its reputation.
The film’s underage lead performers, Olivia Hussey, and Leonard Whiting helped make it
a hit.
They are now suing Paramount Pictures because they allege not only that their infamous nude
scene in the film was filmed without their consent, but that it constitutes child pornography.
Join Facts Verse as Olivia Hussey sues for her controversial Romeo & Juliet scene.
Franco Zeffirelli Made Romeo & Juliet Popular Again
In 1968, Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet was released into the world of cinema, and
it had a dramatic impact.
Prior to the film’s release, there had yet to be a definitive adaptation of the Shakespearean
classic on film.
Not only did Franco’s version strike a chord with audiences that allowed it to become a
financial hit, but it also stayed true to the source material in integral ways.
One of those ways was by casting lead performers that matched the age that the titular characters
were supposed to be in the original play.
The idea of casting teenage actors in Romeo & Juliet was all well and good, but it ended
up having some decidedly sketchy consequences.
The good part was that the teenage actors made the film more realistic, and also helped
the material translate to the teen demographic.
If it weren’t for the fact that Franco’s film starred teenagers, it likely wouldn’t
have been nearly as big of a hit as it was.
The teenage performers that Franco hired to play the characters of Romeo and Juliet were
Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, respectively.
Olivia was 15 at the time that she performed in the film, while Leonard was 16.
While there was nothing wrong with the decision to cast teenagers in the film in and of itself,
the teenage casting became controversial when the film was released and it contained a notable
nude scene.
As soon as the iconic nude scene from Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet was unveiled
to the public, audiences began questioning whether or not what they were seeing on the
screen was actually what they were being told.
Optimistically, many audience members imagined that body doubles or other such tricks were
being utilized to create the illusion that the underage performers were nude.
As it turns out, the teenage performers in the film were actually as nude on set as they
appeared to be in the final product.
Not only that, but the two teenage performers are now alleging that they appeared nude in
the film without their consent.
Romeo & Juliet’s Stars Are Now Alleging Foul Play
Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting have just recently filed a lawsuit against Paramount
Pictures related to the infamous nude scene in Romeo & Juliet.
Paramount Pictures was the film’s distributor, and Olivia and Leonard are alleging that the
company has profited off of the distribution of child pornography by continuing to make
the film available to paying members of the public.
In most cases, distributing images of nude teenagers would be an obvious crime.
However, things are different in the world of cinema.
This is especially true when you take different time periods and different regions into account.
Not only was Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet filmed in the 1960s, but it was made by a
filmmaker whose sensibilities were much more European than American.
To Franco, the depiction of nude teenagers in his film was no big deal, and much of the
world felt the same way when it was released.
It was predominantly Romeo & Juliet’s popularity in America that drew so much attention to
the teenage nudity that was featured therein.
Not only did Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting’s nudity in Romeo & Juliet get a free pass despite
the fact that the performers were underage, but the film has overcome its controversy
since it’s release to become staple viewing in high schools across America.
It seems that the world no longer thinks that Franco Zeffirelli’s 1986 film adaptation
is all that controversial.
Instead, audiences have come to consider it the preeminent version of the play to get
teenagers hooked on Shakespeare.
Olivia and Leonard’s new lawsuit is liable to change this reputation and reignite the
controversy the film was met with upon its release.
While the fact that 1968’s Romeo & Juliet contains a nude image of teenage performers
may be enough for certain audience members to decry it, there are worse things being
alleged in Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting’s new lawsuit.
Not only are Olivia and Leonard claiming that their infamous nude scene should be illegal
to distribute, but they are also claiming that it was filmed without their consent.
According to both performers, they were coaxed into performing nude in the film at the behest
of Franco Zeffirelli himself.
Once Franco managed to convince the two teenage performers to strip nude in front of the camera,
he assured them that no nudity would be featured in the film’s final cut.
As anyone that has seen the adaptation knows, the director was lying.
Did Franco Trick Olivia and Leonard Into Appearing Nude?
Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting allege that they were promised before the filming of 1968’s
Romeo & Juliet even started tat there would be no nudity featured in the film.
There was a bedroom scene that was written into the script, but Franco Zeffirelli assured
the two teenagers that flesh-colored garments would be used in order to give off the illusion
that the performers were nude so that they didn’t have to strip in front of the camera.
It wasn’t until toward the end of the movie’s shoot, once it was time to film the bedroom
scene, that Franco began suggesting that the idea of flesh-colored garments be eschewed.
Franco was persistent, alleging that the film wouldn’t work unless Olivia and Leonard
were actually as naked as they appeared to be.
Eventually, Franco Zeffirelli was able to wear Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting down
with his insistence that his film adaptation of Romeo & Juliet wouldn’t work unless the
performers stripped down before the cameras.
However, as we’ve already established, he was only able to do so by promising that no
graphic nudity would make it into the film.
Franco claimed that the cameras were placed in such a way that none of the performers’
genitalia was even being recorded.
It was under this presumption that Olivia and Leonard finally performed their iconic
bedroom scene.
Another thing that Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting are alleging in their new lawsuit
is that the release of Romeo & Juliet caused strain that their careers would never recover
from.
Given that neither performer has worked much in the many decades since the film was released
despite its massive box-office success should suggest as much.
In total, the two performers are suing Paramount Pictures for a staggering sum of around $500
million.
The lawsuit was filed as a result of a recent California law that temporarily suspended
the statute of limitations in regard to older claims of child sexual abuse.
Some have suggested that Olivia and Leonard are being exploitative in their pursuit.
Are Olivia and Leonard Being Sincere?
People that are on Paramount Pictures’ side allege that Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting
are opportunists that are only expressing outrage about their teenage nude scene now
that they think they can get some money and attention out of it.
Regardless of whether or not this is the case, the performers’ shared lawyer believes that
the matter of Romeo & Juliet’s infamous nude scene constituting child pornography
is pretty cut and dry.
In 2018, Olivia Hussey gave an interview to Fox News during which she parroted Franco
Zeffirelli’s claim that the nudity in his adaptation of Romeo & Juliet had been exactly
what the film needed.
There’s certainly a lot of merit to the argument that the film wouldn’t have the
legacy that it does today if it weren’t for its nude scene.
Regardless of the morality, audiences seem to enjoy looking at the film’s nude teenage
performers.
Besides the mystery behind the infamous nude scene, another thing that fans have often
wondered about in regard to 1968’s Romeo & Juliet is whether or not its two teenage
performers ever hooked up behind the scenes.
As it turns out, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting actually did develop somewhat of a
thing for each other over the course of the adaptation’s filming.
However, their love was much more innocent than the one depicted in both the film and
the play that it’s based on.
According to Olivia, she had never been with a boy before appearing besides Leonard in
Romeo & Juliet.
The two stars were physically attracted to each other upon their first meeting, and they
developed a bond over the course of production.
They became something like boyfriend and girlfriend, though things never got serious.
After Romeo & Juliet, Olivia Hussey had some trouble in her love life.
At the age of 17, her agent introduced her to an actor by the name of Christopher Jones.
Unbeknownst to both Olivia and her agent, the actor suffered from violent schizophrenia.
The abuse started in the relationship early on, but Olivia stayed longer than she should’ve
because she felt obligated to help the man.
Olivia eventually broke things off with Christopher and moved into a house in Hollywood.
This wasn’t just any old house, though.
It was the house where Sharon Tate had been murdered in by the Manson Family just several
weeks prior!
While Olivia was staying there, Christopher broke into the house and raped her.
Olivia certainly suffered a lot of horrors during her teenage years, and she didn’t
have a lot of career longevity in terms of her acting.
However, she’s happily married today with several children.
One of Olivia’s children is an actress, and her name is India Eisley.
Olivia and Leonard Whiting got the chance to play India’s on-screen parents in the
2015 film Social Suicide, which was based on Romeo & Juliet.
It remains to be seen how the reputation of Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film adaptation
of Romeo & Juliet will change in the wake of the new lawsuit that has been filed by
stars Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting against the movie’s distributor.
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting
were underage when they filmed their infamous nude scene in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film
adaptation of Romeo & Juliet and that the director allegedly coaxed the teenage performers
into filming the scene against their consent?
Comment down below!