A California judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the protagonists in the 1968 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet against Paramount Pictures over a scene in which their characters wake up naked in bed together.
The actors, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, alleged in the lawsuit filed last year that they were underage at the time of filming and that the film’s director, Franco Zeffirelli, had assured them they would wear flesh-colored undergarments during the bedroom. . scene. But on the morning of shooting, the lawsuit alleged, he told the teen actors that “they had to perform naked or the picture would fail.”
Their lawsuit alleged that Paramount, the film’s distributor, “knew or should have known that images of plaintiffs’ naked bodies had been secretly and unlawfully obtained during the performance.” In court documents, lawyers for the actors wrote that the scene should not be considered protected speech because it qualified as “child pornography.” Ms. Hussey was 16 when the scene was filmed and Mr. Whiting was 17, said Tony Marinozzi, a manager for both actors.
A Paramount lawyer challenged the actors’ assessment of the two-Oscar-winning film, arguing in court filings that the scene is not lewd or lewd, adding that their claims were too old to be taken to court .
“The reality that the film is not child pornography is, of course, also supported by the fact that the film is hugely famous, has been in distribution for fifty-five years, and has been viewed or owned by millions of Americans (including college students). Shakespeare in school), without any allegation by law enforcement, plaintiffs or their parents that it is ‘child pornography,'” the attorney, Richard B. Kendall, wrote.
Zeffirelli died in 2019, but one of his sons he adopted as an adult, Giuseppe Zeffirelli, said the scene was “as far from pornography as you can imagine”.
The judge dismissed the lawsuit, writing that the claim related to filmmaking, a protected activity under the First Amendment.
In a statement, an attorney for the actors, Solomon Gresen, said the actors planned to take the matter to federal court.