Costars of the 1968 'Romeo and Juliet' accuse movie studio in lawsuit of sexually exploiting them with nudity in the film

• Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting starred in the acclaimed 1968 "Romeo and Juliet" movie.
• The actors were 15 and 16 when they were filmed nude "without their knowledge," the suit said, per Variety.

More than 50 years after its release, "Romeo and Juliet" actors Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey have filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures, accusing the movie studio of "sexually exploiting them and distributing nude images of adolescent children" in the 1968 film, according to Variety.

Whiting and Hussey, who were 16 and 15 respectively at the time the movie was filmed, were unknown teen actors when director Franco Zeffirelli cast them as Romeo and Juliet in a film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play. When the movie premiered in 1968, some critics took issue with the inclusion of a scene that showed the teens naked in bed together, presumably after having sex — a detail never made explicit in the play's version of events.

Variety reports that the suit alleges how Zeffirelli — who died in 2019 — at first said there would be no nudity in the movie. But then the plan was changed from "wearing flesh-colored undergarments" to the actors being nude "with body makeup" for filming.

"The suit alleges that he was being dishonest and that Whiting and Hussey were in fact filmed nude without their knowledge," Variety's Gene Maddaus reported. The released version of the movie showed Whiting's bare buttocks and Hussey's breasts.

The complaint has not been officially filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court but has been reviewed by Variety and The Los Angeles Times.

The two actors allege that Zeffirelli told them that "they must act in the nude or the Picture would fail" and that "millions were invested" in the film, according to The L.A. Times.

In a 2000 review of the movie, notable critic Roger Ebert said Zeffirelli's 1968 production is likely to remain "the favorite film version" of Shakespeare's play, citing the "crucial" decision to cast teenagers in the lead roles.

"They didn't merely look their parts, they embodied them in the freshness of their personalities, and although neither was a trained actor, they were fully equal to Shakespeare's dialogue for them," the review said.

Ebert mentions that "Zeffirelli got some criticism from purists by daring to show Romeo and Juliet awakening in her bed, no doubt after experiencing physical love," but otherwise does not reference the nudity.

Representatives for Paramount and Whiting and Hussey did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.

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