Public Opinions

"I have not seen the film before but having looked up how old they were when they were made to do the nude scene when both actors were 15 and 16 years of age respectively means the movie studio was and is wrong on their part. As a reader, I am disgusted and angry on behalf of their younger selves 

People can go ahead and accuse both Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey for being ungrateful and desperate at their age now but they are NOT. Both actors are suing to have their voices heard and tell the world what Paramount did to them was and is unacceptable and criminal when both actors were minors in the eyes of the law

Paramount failed two young minors long ago and now they need to be held accountable. Having nude scenes involving two minors in a movie are counted as CP (you know what I mean) and by right the nude scenes were unneccessary to start with"

Honestly, good for them. Usually with lawsuits over 50 years old, I roll my eyes, but with this one I feel like they realized over the years how wronged they were as the grew and matured.

It seems like every high school English class over the last 50 years have seen these minors on film nude (including my own in the 9th grade) and they had no say and gave no consent

There's a lot of people saying "why now? Money grab!" And they're suing now because the

statute of limitations was temporarily suspended until December 31, 2022. They got their lawsuit in on December 30. By the time they grew up enough to want to do something about what happened, their window had probably expired. Then 50 years later, they had a small window they'd never have again

"In California, Assembly Bill AB 218 became effective in 2019, allowing victims of child sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits for abuse that happened up to 50 years prior. The reprieve, also known as a "look back window" closes December 31, 2022"

"Olivia Hussey wasn't even allowed to attend the premiere because she was underage and there was nudity in the film. The nude body in the film was her own."

"Accidentally showed nudity in middle school classroom in classic movie context...help 

Yes, I'm THAT first year teacher.

We had been reading adaptations of a classic great American novel. The students were excited to see a visual representation of it. It was a made for TV movie and I didn't see any parental warnings on the IMDB page.

I figured like an idiot if it was made for TV, it must be alright. I started showing it and something seemed off. Turns out it's the uncut version of a made for TV movie, which I found out today was a thing. It showed a man's behind for a fraction of a second, while I said "sorry, wrong version" and clicked it off as fast as i could. I then put on something safer and wallowed in pure existential dread. I love teaching. I love connecting with students. I'm sick that this happened.

I told admin ASAP in case there were any calls. The students didn't mention it again for the rest of the day. The crappy part is that we are reading the last part of the adaptation of this novel next week, and my stomach is churning that it will rehash memories of this unfortunate incident. I know they will want to finish this story, but I want to throw up thinking of it.

How do I handle it? I solemnly vow to never show anything un-vetted in my classroom again. I google things and see teachers getting arrested for this kind of thing? Please somebody tell me that I'll laugh about this in five years and that I'll not still be weeping over it."

"15 and 16?! That’s… disturbing. I watched this in school when I was younger and had no clue. I’m glad times are changing and I hope they win their case. We still have a long way to go though when predators like Roman Polanski are still openly praised and allowed to work. Just to put this in perspective – this would be like if the strangers things guys had Sadie Sink or Millie do a topless scene in the earlier seasons."

"Even if nothing comes of this, I’m happy they’re doing it if only to shed light on how utterly

exploitative and inappropriate it was. And wtf was with many of us being shown this movie in schools growing up."

"Oh wow, those poor kids. Imagine what else went on back in the day that we have never heard about. And people wonder why we need to call out the abuse now."

"This version was showed to my class in junior high. I do remember that the boys including myself were excited by seeing breasts which I’m pretty sure most of us had never seen before. I also remember for some weird reason it made it more horrifying when she dies at the end. We were all perplexed like what the heck? She was nice she was pretty why did she have to die? I know this sounds stupid but to a 13 year old boy it seemed like a tragedy. Everyone in our class was almost crying but all the boys were distraught. I’ve never seen the movie again since."

"Hi there! I have a question for you all about movie adaptations of Romeo and Juliet. I am

finishing this text with my 9th graders and I want to show them a movie adaptation of it in class, but my school has pretty strict rules. I’d prefer to show the 1968 Zeffirelli version but it likely won’t be approved due to the nudity (even if I skip that scene)

Do you have any recommendations on which version to watch next as far as appropriateness in the classroom and staying true to the original text? I know the one with DiCaprio is popular, but I’m not a fan of the modern interpretation.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcomed! Thanks."

"I remember watching it in school when I was about 15 or 16. Predictably there was still one immature kid who went mad. Everyone else just thought it was a bit weird to have a giirl that young be shown naked on film. We also saw the weird fucking Baz Luhrmann one. What on Earth was the point of that one?"

Reply: smokinjoe056

"My English teacher turned the TV and fas forwarded through that scene... we were pissed lol"

"this might be anecdotal but im a gen-zer and my high school stopped showing this movie a couple of years ago because of this reason. We watched the baz luhrmann version instead.

I'm hoping other high schools and middle schools opt to watch a different version because it's really gross the way these kids were exploited."

reply: harleyqueenzel

"In my advanced English class in high school we had watched the Zeffirelli, Luhrmann, and Cukor versions. All I remember is staring at a child who was around our ages being nude on screen. We were an all girls school and ended up having a social conversation about bodily autonomy, exploitation, at what point is Hussey forced into prostitution for being paid to do nudity, etc. We were 15ish so this was baffling and appalling.

That school closed a number of years ago but I've always wondered if my teacher moved away from the Zeffirelli film."

"Yes, unfortunately.

It really shouldn't matter what she said, though. Its basically child porn. I'm surprised it was even legal to film, though I suppose I shouldn't be.

Necessary for the film is such a bullshit excuse. Its not like there haven't been probably literally thousands of productions of Romeo and Juliet that avoided showing nudity."

"Sarne. I always thought the nude scene was gross. My English teacher pointed out early on in the film the ages of the actors. It never should've been allowed. And now learning that it was non-consensual is even worse."

reply: AntonBrakhage

"I'd argue that at that age its automatically non-consensual. Laws vary by jurisdiction, but 15-16 is too young to consent to something like this."

"What about the 13 year old who was cast in that 1970s version of Romeo and Juliet? Full frontal nude scene and everything ... I remember watching it in grade 9 English and every dude in the class was in such shock that we went and rewound the tape"

"It was creepy being forced to watch this movie in a classroom setting and subsequently deal with the sexual harassment that ensued following that scene- toward the actress/girls in general. And just have the teacher demurely hush boys being boys."

"This is important to me because this film has garnered so many fans who adore both Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey for truly being the epitome of Romeo and Juliet, all over the World. Their portrayal of the two star crossed lovers have also brought about teenagers (educators have shown this movie in their classrooms) awareness of Romeo and Juliet and to be able understand it and fall in love with them and the movie. Please Consider creating stars for them, they do Deserve it."

"They defined Romeo and Juliet!"

"Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey epitomize the characters of Romeo and Juliet. Even today, 50 years later, when students across the world study Shakespeare's play, this is the film that is part of their curriculum. Their roles as Romeo and Juliet will continue to inspire future generations."

"It is one of the greatest adaptations of Shakespeare in the history of film and Olivia Hussey and Lenord Whiting are the definitive Romeo and Juliet."

"Thier work hos touched and influenced people for 50 years. Brilliant actors"

"They both are wonderful. They left a deep trail in cinema."

"Romeo and Juliet 1968 is shown in high schools all over the world fifty plus years on,

introducing young people to Shakespeare, literature, theatre and cinema!

Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting made this film at the ages of 16 and 17, and their

performance reverberates with young people today.It has inspired people, including myself, to become educators, and to fall in love with literature and the arts. Hussey and Whiting continue to be the caretakers of this film and are so deserving of this honor and recognition."

"Olivia has always been an incredible role model to me and other young women (and men) around the world."

"I never thought about the correlation between the nudity in this film and their future careers but that makes perfect sense - it's absolutely true that doing nude scenes early on sets certain expectations in the industry about what you're comfortable with, and since their scenes in R + J were done non consensually and when they were minors, that makes it even more complicated. I'm sure people tried to get them to star in other adult-esque roles before they were comfortable and that had an impact on their options. That's so upsetting and unfair.

It's so weird that they just casually showed us this movie with naked 15 year olds in school :/"

"for what it's worth, as a survivor of sexual assault, it's not at all uncommon for one's perception of an incident to change over time. you can be uncomfortable in the moment but be pushed into ignoring those feelings through social pressure, abuse, self-doubt, etc. and come to realize even years later that you were in fact assaulted/exploited."

"In the recent Brooke Shields documentary, she spoke about how Zeffirelli didn't like her expression during the sex scenes in Endless Love so he just reached from behind the camera and kept twisting her toe to give her "a look of ecstasy." IIRC she also talked about dissociating from her body during those scenes. She was 15/16 at the time. She also said that these experiences later made her feel very much not in touch with her own sexuality and personhood. It was so hard to watch and realize that what these fuckers did still has effects on the actors today. 

And now this news is really making me think how different her life and career would have been if the kinds of films she was in like Pretty Baby, Blue Lagoon, Endless Love where she was presented in a sexual way. had not been allowed to be made, or at least made with more supervision on the directors (her mother was an alcoholic and wasn't always with her) and more consideration for Brooke."

"olivia couldn't even attend the premier of the movie because it was r rated. that's how young she was"

reply: Lespuccino

"R rated for her own nudity! Wild."

"One crazy part of the Romeo and Juliet story, tangentially related, but apparently Olivia Hussey wasn't even allowed to attend the R-rated film's premiere because of her own nudity on screen. Absolutely wild."

"there comes a point in cinephiles where the perceived necessity for "art" surpasses common sense and morality.

This is what happens when the highschool bully slacks and lets nerds grow out of control."

"It's incredible that the two leads of an iconic film made less than $3000 each. It's so

disappointing that once again, a young girl was told her body was inadequate and was given diet pills (in the 60's diet pills were essentially cocaine in pill form) and then forced to bare more than she was comfortable with by a much older man. Her mother was not on the set with her, she had no protection. These were children who were 100% abused and they deserve every penny they are asking for and probably more than that."

"Wow. Olivia Hussey has a very small but dedicated fan base on lnstagram, that I was involved with for a little while. She's very active on lnstagram and interacts with fans often, reposting and reminiscing about the film. She's only ever said good things about it, even in her biography. However, she did suffer after the film came out with severe agoraphobia, which stunted her career as she rejected roles offered due to her mental state. It would make sense how the exploitation would affect her in this way. This probably only came out now because of Zeferelli's death not that long ago. I wish them the best, she's a very lovely lady who has had a difficult life."

"so while i can't speak for olivia or leonard, the relevant part of the situation is more that the situation was always wrong. the studio repeatedly lied to the two young stars and pressured them into doing the scene. the two may not have spoken out about this at the time or years following, but that doesn't change the fact that this was not an okay thing to do by the studio regardless."

"So gross how people are calling this just a cash grab. They were sexually exploited as children. This is morally justified."

"I'm really proud of them for speaking up and seeking Justice"

"We need to get rid of the qualifiers in these types of statements - just acknowledge it was wrong, stop adding "but it was a different time." Everyone knows it was a different time, it still doesn't make it ok. 

I still appreciate the fact that Kirkpatrick is pushing the studio to settle."