Paramount Pictures attorneys state in new court papers that a renewed lawsuit by the then-teenage stars of the 1968 film “Romeo and Juliet,” in which the plaintiffs say they were duped into appearing partially nude in one of the movie’s scenes, should be dismissed on free-speech and other grounds.
The updated case, filed Feb. 12 in Los Angeles Superior Court by Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, alleges unlawful use of intimate photos and likeness and violation of the Performers Rights Act of the United Kingdom, and focuses on the release of the film’s digital photos.
The previous suit alleged sexual harassment, childhood sexual abuse, fraud, negligence, infliction of emotional distress and other violations. It was dismissed by a judge in May 2023.
In an anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) motion filed Thursday with Judge Holly Fujie, Paramount Pictures attorneys state that the entire case should be dismissed on First Amendment grounds. A hearing is scheduled for July 25.
“In fact, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge already concluded the conduct at issue satisfies the public interest requirement for purposes of the anti-SLAPP statute in granting (Paramount’s) anti-SLAPP motion to dispose of an earlier action by plaintiffs,” the Paramount lawyers state in their pleadings.
The studio lawyers maintain the issues previously decided cannot now be relitigated. They also state that Hussey and Whiting attended post-2016 screenings of the film and were asked about the bedroom scene.
“Time after time, plaintiffs maintained the bedroom scene was tastefully done, needed for the film and shot with the utmost level of professionalism and care,” the Paramount attorneys further state.
The state’s anti-SLAPP law is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
According to the earlier lawsuit, Whiting was 16 years old when he played Romeo in the film, opposite Juliet portrayed by Hussey, who was 15 at the time. The first complaint further stated that the two actors were told by the film’s director, Franco Zeffirelli, “that there would be no nudity filmed or exhibited, and that plaintiffs would be wearing flesh-colored undergarments during the bedroom/love scene.”
Paramount attorneys maintain in their court papers that the lawsuit was “notably” filed after Zeffirelli’s death in June 2019 at age 96.
At the time the first suit was drafted, neither actor knew that Paramount and Janus Films LLC, through its subsidiary Criterion Collections Inc. — both of which are co-defendants in the suit and also state in court papers that the case should be dismissed — intended to release and distribute the release containing digital photos which “depicted their private areas in such high detail that the gratuitous display was lewd and lascivious and demeaning to them,” the revised suit states.
“Hussey and Whiting thereby became concerned that the digital release containing the digital photos could wreak havoc upon their professional reputations and subject them to critical obloquy and professional ridicule and contempt,” the current suit states.
Paramount maintains Whiting and Hussey “have irrevocably consented to Paramount’s absolute right to use and license the use of those original photos in any manner it sees fit,” the new complaint states.
Whiting and Hussey are both now 73 years old.
“Romeo and Juliet” won Oscars for cinematography and costume design. It was nominated for best picture and best director for Zeffirelli.