A Los Angeles County decide on Thursday stated she is going to dismiss a lawsuit that the celebs of 1968’s “Romeo and Juliet” filed over the film’s nude scene, which they stated concerned them being subjected to fraud, and sexual abuse and harassment after they have been of their teenagers.
Superior Court Judge Alison Mackenzie dominated in favor of a movement from defendant Paramount Pictures to dismiss the lawsuit introduced by Olivia Hussey, who performed Juliet at age 15 and is now 72, and Leonard Whiting, who performed Romeo at 16 and can be 72.
Mackenzie decided that the scene did not quantity to little one pornography and was protected by the First Amendment, discovering that the actors “haven’t put forth any authority exhibiting the movie right here might be deemed to be sufficiently sexually suggestive as a matter of legislation to be held to be conclusively unlawful.”
In her written resolution, she additionally discovered that the swimsuit did not fall throughout the bounds of a California legislation that quickly suspended the statute of limitations for little one sexual abuse, and {that a} February re-release of the movie didn’t change that.
The actors’ legal professional denounced the choice and stated they plan to file one other model of the swimsuit in federal courtroom.
“We firmly imagine that the exploitation and sexualization of minors within the movie business have to be confronted and legally addressed to guard weak people from hurt and make sure the enforcement of current legal guidelines,” lawyer Solomon Gresen stated in an announcement.
The movie and its theme music have been main hits on the time, and — regardless of the nude scene that briefly reveals Whiting’s naked buttocks and Hussey’s naked breasts — it was performed for generations of highschool college students learning Shakespeare’s tragedy.
Director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019 at age 96, initially instructed the 2 that they’d put on flesh-colored undergarments within the bed room scene that comes late within the film and was shot on the ultimate days of filming, the swimsuit alleged.
But on the morning of the shoot, Zeffirelli instructed Whiting and Hussey that they’d put on solely physique make-up, whereas nonetheless assuring them the digicam could be positioned in a approach that may not present nudity, based on the swimsuit.
Despite these assurances, they have been filmed within the nude with out their information, in violation of California and federal legal guidelines in opposition to indecency and the exploitation of kids, the swimsuit alleged.
Zeffirelli instructed them they need to act within the nude “or the Picture would fail” and their careers could be damage, the swimsuit stated. The actors stated that the alternative occurred, that neither had the profession the film’s success urged, and that every suffered emotional harm and psychological anguish for many years. They had sought greater than $500 million in damages.
The decide, although, discovered that the plaintiffs “cherry-picked” from the legislation and failed to supply authorized authority for why it ought to apply to “purported works of inventive benefit, such because the award-winning movie at concern right here.”
She quoted from an appeals courtroom precedent that stated little one pornography is “notably repulsive,” however “not all pictures of nude kids are pornographic.”
The ruling relied on California legislation that’s meant to guard the free speech of defendants from being squelched by lawsuits, and is commonly the primary line of protection when lawsuits are filed.
An legal professional for Paramount declined to remark in regards to the ruling.