'Romeo and Juliet' stars launch sex abuse suit against Paramount over 1968 film

The stars of the 1968 "Romeo and Juliet" film have sued Paramount Pictures more than 50 years after the film's release, alleging sex abuse and negligence.

Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, who played the eponymous starring roles, seek more than $100 million in punitive and exemplary damages from the studio and contend that the film's producers secretly filmed minors nude or partially nude as part of the process, according to Deadline. The pair further seeks "compensatory, economic and non-economic damages according to proof, along with disgorgements of the economic benefit to Paramount."

"Defendants were dishonest and secretly filmed the nude or partially nude minor children without their knowledge, in violation of the state and federal laws regulating said child sexual abuse and exploitation... Plaintiffs have suffered and will continue to suffer physical pain and mental pain along with extreme and severe mental anguish and emotional distress," the filing reads.

Director Franco Zeffirelli is not a defendant in the case, though the filing directly addresses his involvement in the alleged wrongdoing. He died in 2019.

"At the time of filming, Mr. Whiting (Romeo) was a minor child aged 16 years and Ms. Hussey was also a minor child aged 15 years. Plaintiffs were told by Mr. Zeffirelli that there would be no nudity filmed or exhibited and that Plaintiffs would be wearing flesh colored undergarments during the bedroom/love scene," they contended. "However, on the morning of the shoot of the bedroom scene in the second week of December 1968, the very last days of photography the minor children Plaintiffs were given body make-up and were told by Mr. Zeffirelli that they must act in the nude or the Picture would fail."

Deadline noted that the film was released in 1968 and the filing appears to misdate the date of the alleged incident.

"Millions were invested. They would never work again in any profession, let alone Hollywood," the filing continues. "Zeffirelli showed them where the cameras would be set so that no nudity would be filmed or photographed for use in Romeo & Juliet or anywhere else. Plaintiffs believed they had no choice to act in the nude with body make-up as demanded on the last days of filming."

In 2018, Hussey said the nudity in the film "wasn't that big of a deal," she told Fox News at the time. The filing came hours before the Dec. 31 deadline that marks the closure of the window that California created, temporarily lifting the statute of limitations on such suits.

The film was nominated for the Academy Awards for best picture and best director. It won the Academy Awards for best cinematography and best costume design.