The male and female lead actors of the movie 'Romeo and Juliet', who are now in their 70s, filed a lawsuit against the film company for 500 million dollars and about 639.4 billion won of our money, alleging that they were tricked into filming nudes when they were teenagers.



Olivia Hussey, 71, and Leonard Whiting, 72, who played Juliet and Romeo in the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, respectively, filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures, alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud.



In a complaint filed with the First Instance Court in Los Angeles County, California, they argued that the bed scene at the end of 'Romeo and Juliet' was filmed naked without the knowledge of the main actors, and this amounted to sexual harassment and child exploitation.



It was also pointed out that Paramount distributed the film with teenage nudity.



According to the complaint, director Franco Zeffirelli (died in 2019), who directed the film, explained to the actors ahead of the filming of the bed scene that they would be filming in skin-colored underwear.



At the time, Hussey was 15 years old and Yu Ting was 16 years old.



However, on the morning of the actual shooting, the story changed.



Director Zeffirelli told Husse and Whiting that they had to shoot without underwear and with only simple makeup on their bodies.



Director Zeffirelli added a clue that he would adjust the camera position so that his bare body would not be exposed, but the actors' buttocks and breasts were exposed as they were in the movie.



In their complaint, they argued, "The director said that the film must be filmed naked or else 'the film will fail and the actors' careers will be ruined'" and that "the actors had no other options."



The actors said they suffered decades of mental anguish and that they should be paid more than $500 million considering the profits the studio made for 'Romeo and Juliet'.



The lawsuit was filed under a California law that temporarily removed the statute of limitations for child sex crimes.



In the 2020 law revision, while allowing adults to sue for sexual offenses experienced in childhood for three years, complaints poured into state courts by the deadline of December 31 last year, AFP and Los Angeles Times reported.



Paramount Pictures did not respond to inquiries regarding the lawsuit, the Associated Press and AFP added.



(Photo = AP, Yonhap News)