A second lawsuit surrounding the bedroom scene in 1968’s “Romeo and Juliet” has been dismissed by a judge, according to court documents reviewed by TheWrap.
Actors Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey – who played the titular characters and were 17 and 16 at the time – filed a suit in 2022 alleging director Franco Zefforelli tricked them into being nude for the film’s bedroom scene. That lawsuit was thrown out out in May 2023, partly due to being past statute of limitations. A second suit, filed in February 2024, has now been dismissed.
The newer filing came after Whiting and Hussey argued the 2023 Criterion Collection re-release of the film negated those statue of limitations issues. Judge Holly J. Fujie ruled the re-release wasn’t grounds enough for a new suit and also found that the actors consented to their appearance in the film’s scenes.
“A comparison of the 2023 release with the prior versions shows no significant visible improvement in the film, particularly in the Bedroom Scene, to the naked eye,” the judge said.
In the mentioned “Bedroom Scene,” Hussey’s breasts are visible for a moment, as well as Whiting’s bare buttocks. The pair’s second lawsuit attempt focused on state and federal laws in place to fight “revenge pornography.” Fujie still said the scenes from the film didn’t apply because the actors had signed contracts to appear in the film, thus giving participation consent.
“Even in the absence of express consent, however, Plaintiffs’ subsequent conduct in the decades that followed since the Film’s original 1968 release speaks to Plaintiffs’ implied ratification and approval of the Film, including the Bedroom Scene,” Fujie said. “This includes, among others, appearances and statements made by Plaintiffs during interviews and attendance at film festivals, during which Plaintiffs did not object to the continuing release and distribution of the successive releases of the Film.”
Judge Alison Mackenzie ruled in 2023 that, based on the original lawsuit filed by the actors, the film didn’t qualify as “child pornography.” The judge therefore ruled that the concerns raised in the suit wouldn’t override the film’s First Amendment protections as an artistic work.
“Plaintiffs have not put forth any authority showing the film here can be deemed to be sufficiently sexually suggestive as a matter of law to be held to be conclusively illegal,” the judge wrote in his decision at the time. “Plaintiffs’ argument on the subject is limited to cherry-picked language from federal and state statutes without offering any authority regarding the interpretation or application of those statutory provisions to purported works of artistic merit, such as the award-winning film at issue here.”
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