Romeo and Juliet is seeing a lawsuit some 55 years following its initial release for claims of sexual exploitation of minors, but the son of director Franco Zeffirelli has disputed the claims as “embarrassing.”
Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, who starred as the star-crossed lovers in the 1968 Shakespeare adaptation, are suing Paramount for $500 million for “sexual exploitation and distributing nude images of adolescents” during the temporary suspension of statute of limitations for child sexual abuse in California.. The duo claim director Zeffirelli exploited and abused them into appearing nude during the famous bedroom scene, with him pressuring the 15 and 16 year-olds to do so in the final days of the shoot.