ShowBiz Minute: Renner, Caesars, “Romeo and Juliet”
Jeremy Renner posts a selfie of his bruised face from his hospital bed. France’s Cesar Film Awards stand up to sexual crimes. The stars of “Romeo and Juliet” have filed a lawsuit over nude teen scenes in the 1968 film. (January 4th)
AP
The stars of the 1968 film “Romeo and Juliet” have filed a new lawsuit against Paramount Pictures and Criterion over the film’s digital re-release, which included brief nudity of the lead actors when they were minors.
Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting filed a complaint Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, saying the re-release was “digitally enhanced” and “depicted their private parts in such detail that the gratuitous display is obscene.” It was obscene and humiliating to them.” According to the complaint obtained by USA TODAY.
Hussey, who played Juliet at the age of 15 and is now 72, and Whiting, who played Romeo at the age of 16 and is now 73, allege in their complaint that they have given Paramount, then BHE Productions, “reproduction and republishing”. They claim there was no agreement in place to allow it. , or redistributing photographs of the performance in “any medium or format other than 35 mm analogue.”
The actors are asking the court to prohibit the defendants from digitally distributing films containing nude scenes, and to compensate them for “mental anguish, embarrassment, humiliation and emotional distress.”
USA TODAY has reached out to representatives from Paramount and Criterion.
The actors created a joint website detailing the allegations in the recent lawsuit. In a joint statement posted on their website and shared with USA TODAY through their representative Tony Marinozzi, Hussey and Whiting said they have “reached out to Paramount in hopes of resolving this legal matter. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.” Responsible for participating in the digital enhancement, production, and distribution of the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet and for the photographs contained in its reproductions that were illegally and secretly taken of the most private parts of our naked bodies on set. must bear the burden. The 1968 film and his 2023 digital reproduction of the film were subsequently published and published without our permission.
“We believe that the facts, the evidence, and the law are all clear in this case, and that more than half a century of mental imprisonment for this shocking event is sufficient.”
“For years they have allowed stolen photographs to be used in copies of the original analogue films published and distributed by Paramount, but the films themselves The digital remaster of the film included naked photos of them, so those photos were no longer used.” “Those photos were obscene and obscene, and went far beyond the tolerances we have shown Paramount and (director) Franco Zeffirelli. Neither of them agreed to release them for any reason. I never agreed.”
In May, a Los Angeles County judge dismissed an initial lawsuit over the film’s nude scenes, saying the depictions were not considered child pornography and that California had filed the claim too late and had a look-back period. It was determined that the case could not be considered under the Child Victims Act. Ended in December 2022.
Superior Court Judge Alison McKenzie ruled that the scene was protected by the First Amendment, stating that the actors “have not determined that the film here is sufficiently sexually suggestive as a matter of conclusive law. “We have not issued any authority to indicate that it will be considered.” illegal. “
She said in a written decision that the case does not fall within the ambit of California law that temporarily suspends the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, and the film’s re-release in February will not change that. He also admitted that.
Cast of “Romeo and Juliet” Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting’s nude scene lawsuit dismissed by judge
According to the lawsuit, Zeffirelli, who died in 2019 at age 96, originally told the pair that they would wear flesh-colored underwear for a bedroom scene that appeared late in the film and was shot on the final day of filming. It is said that
But on the morning of the shoot, Zeffirelli told Whiting and Hussey that he would only do body makeup, and promised to position the camera so that no nudity would be shown, according to the lawsuit.
Despite those assurances, they were photographed nude without their knowledge, the lawsuit alleges, violating California and federal laws prohibiting lewd conduct and child exploitation.
These claims are reiterated in the latest lawsuit.
Contributor: Andrew Dalton, Associated Press
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