LOS ANGELES — The stars of the 1968 movie “Romeo and Juliet” have submitted a lawsuit in Los Angeles County accusing Paramount Pictures of sexually abusing them by filming their nude bodies without their knowledge when they were children.
Leonard Whiting, who played Romeo Montague when he was 16, and Olivia Hussey, who played Juliet Capulet when she was 15, are suing the studio giant for sexual harassment, negligence, intentional tort, fraud, appropriation of name and likeness, intentional infliction of emotional distress, unfair business practices, and child sexual abuse. The lawsuit, submitted Friday, has yet to be officially filed in L.A. Superior Court.
Directed by Italian filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli, the 1968 adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” features a controversial bedroom scene in which Whiting’s bare buttocks and Hussey’s bare breasts are visible.
