The two stars of Franco Zeffirelli’s famous 1968 adaptation of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ are suing for sexual exploitation and child abuse over the nude scenes in the film.
In the film, Romeo and Juliet are briefly depicted partially naked on their wedding night. In the suit, Hussey and Whiting, now 71 and 72, claim that their consent was violated by Zeffirelli, who died in 2019.
The complaint alleges that the director decided at the last minute to scrap the flesh-colored coverups the actors were told they could wear while filming the bedroom scene. Claiming the “picture would fail” if the pair didn’t perform in the nude, Zeffirelli allegedly encouraged them to use body makeup instead. Whiting was shot from behind, while Hussey was included in forward-facing footage with her breasts exposed.
Additionally, Hussey and Whiting claim Zeffirelli showed them where the camera would be placed while filming the scene to assure them they wouldn’t actually be filmed naked. But Zeffirelli allegedly misled the pair, who say they were filmed nude without their knowledge. “What they were told and what went on were two different things,” Tony Marinozzi, who serves as a business manager for both Hussey and Whiting, shared in a statement to. “They trusted Franco. At 16, as actors, they took his lead that he would not violate that trust they had. Franco was their friend, and frankly, at 16, what do they do? There are no options. There was no #MeToo.
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