Romeo & Juliet stars sue over 1968 film’s teen nude scene (2 Viewers)

[Mr. Blue Sky]

So I was around 13 when this had come out- a friend of mine had said something about a girl getting a period - later I asked my mom what that meant and she didn’t say anything
Maybe 2-3 days later dad took me to see Blue Lagoon
There wasn’t a follow up conversation

Watching the Blue Lagoon is definitely one way to learn about the birds and the bees .



I was 5 or 6 when it came out; i remember my MawMaw and PawPaw going to the movie theater to see it (how uncomfortable that must have been)- and then when they came home after , i asked if i would be able to go and see it and MawMaw said “No! It’s too nasty!!”.. and i literally didnt wind up seeing it til i was in my 20s.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Still haven't seen Blue Lagoon

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Still haven't seen Blue Lagoon

do you know about periods?

 

[Madmarsha]

do you know about periods?

Tell him about the never-wake-up berries.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

Tell him about the never-wake-up berries.

Toddlers have a natural resistance...

 

[Optimus Prime]

Just when the #MeToo movement looked to be getting marginalised in just the way activists had feared, a new frontier has opened up – history.

Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, who as teens starred in Franco Zeffirelli’s movie version of Romeo and Juliet in 1968, are suing Paramount for more than $500m for child abuse in the semi-nude scene they say they were made to do, having originally been assured by the director that this would not be necessary. This was act three, scene five – in which the star crossed, loved-up hero and heroine awake after their (secret) wedding night.

To a modern eye, it looks pretty tame: Romeo is naked face down and Zeffirelli’s camera lingers on his buttocks – Juliet has the sheet pulled up almost to her shoulders but her breasts are briefly revealed towards the end of the scene.

These are, after all, children we are talking about (Whiting was 16, Hussey 15). Who knows what traumatic arguments and negotiations led up to this staging on the day, or whether the parents or chaperones felt bullied by the director on set into allowing more than they signed up to? That’s if they were allowed anywhere near the set. There were no intimacy coaches in those days…….

But as for the past, who knows what will happen? Brooke Shields has not expressed regret over her underage roles playing a sexually exploited child in the 1978 film Pretty Baby and a teenager discovering her sexuality in the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon – though she sees the exploitative nature of the business as clearly as anyone.

Jodie Foster has not indicated any resentment over playing a sexually exploited girl in Scorsese’s Taxi Driver in 1976. But how about other films?

At 11, Kirsten Dunst had to kiss Brad Pitt in Interview With the Vampire: she has expressed distaste for this and left it there – but there may be other movie sets and productions where people are not in a forgiving mood and studio chiefs will be terrified of legal market forces driving new legislation.

A lot is riding on the Romeo and Juliet lawsuit…..

The $500m Romeo and Juliet case opens a new frontier for #MeToo reckoning | Peter Bradshaw

The question of informed consent on Zeffirelli’s 1968 film has revived the historical abuses argument – will movie production companies be hit by a tidal wave of lawsuits?

www.theguardian.com

 

[Saintman2884]

Watched this in 9th grade, nudity and all. Our English teacher really knew how to get 14 year old boys to pay attention.

I can't imagine the ruckus it would cause at school board meetings today.

Movies like Blue Lagoon featuring a mid-teen Brooke Shields or even Taxi Driver, featuring a then-14 year old Jodie Foster playing a teenage prostistute don't get made today, or likely featured actresses over the legal age all doctored up with prosthetics, highly advanced, elaborate make-up to make seem or appear younger.

Honestly, I'm not even totally sure a frightening, vulgar, crass and extremely sacreligious film like the Exorcist with its vicious and terrifying screen shots, makeup could be made today.

 

[tenordas]

Someone explain why R & J is still on school curriculums. I'm a big fan of the bard, but I absolutely despise this play. It's just awful. The only character who is well drawn is Mercutio, and when he dies, the play has zero interest at all. All the other characters are complete morons and for a fellow who wrote some of the best dialogue in history, I can't get around all the dumb lines in this play, not to mention all the deus ex machina he inserts to drive forward the ridiculous plot.
Teenagers hate it, so why does the system insist on forcing it on them when there literally are dozens of fantastic Shakespeare plays to present instead?

Sorry to threadjack, just had to rant. - also, the Bahz Luhrman film could not have sucked any worse than it did. I was amazed someone could make me dislike R & J even more than I already did.

Back to subject: I hope Whiting and Hussey win this lawsuit and the multiple number of monsters like Zeffirelli operating in Hollywood will be driven out of power due to producers fearing lawsuits.

 

[Sun Wukong]

Someone explain why R & J is still on school curriculums. I'm a big fan of the bard, but I absolutely despise this play. It's just awful. The only character who is well drawn is Mercutio, and when he dies, the play has zero interest at all. All the other characters are complete morons and for a fellow who wrote some of the best dialogue in history, I can't get around all the dumb lines in this play, not to mention all the deus ex machina he inserts to drive forward the ridiculous plot.
Teenagers hate it, so why does the system insist on forcing it on them when there literally are dozens of fantastic Shakespeare plays to present instead?

Sorry to threadjack, just had to rant. - also, the Bahz Luhrman film could not have sucked any worse than it did. I was amazed someone could make me dislike R & J even more than I already did.

Back to subject: I hope Whiting and Hussey win this lawsuit and the multiple number of monsters like Zeffirelli operating in Hollywood will be driven out of power due to producers fearing lawsuits.

Eh, my students actually tend to like it. It was something I was dreading teaching but they're typically way more into it than, say, Joy Luck Club.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Someone explain why R & J is still on school curriculums. I'm a big fan of the bard, but I absolutely despise this play. It's just awful. The only character who is well drawn is Mercutio, and when he dies, the play has zero interest at all. All the other characters are complete morons and for a fellow who wrote some of the best dialogue in history, I can't get around all the dumb lines in this play, not to mention all the deus ex machina he inserts to drive forward the ridiculous plot.
Teenagers hate it, so why does the system insist on forcing it on them when there literally are dozens of fantastic Shakespeare plays to present instead?

Sorry to threadjack, just had to rant. - also, the Bahz Luhrman film could not have sucked any worse than it did. I was amazed someone could make me dislike R & J even more than I already did.

Back to subject: I hope Whiting and Hussey win this lawsuit and the multiple number of monsters like Zeffirelli operating in Hollywood will be driven out of power due to producers fearing lawsuits.

If "name a William Shakespeare play" was a Family Feud question I'd bet Romeo and Juliet is the top answer (2 and 3 would be Hamlet and Macbeth) but I'm putting my money on R&J for number 1

 

[Sun Wukong]

If "name a William Shakespeare play" was a Family Feud question I'd bet Romeo and Juliet is the top answer (2 and 3 would be Hamlet and Macbeth) but I'm putting my money on R&J for number 1

Probably.

Although "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is apparently his most popular play in terms of how many productions of it there are annually. Most probably wouldn't guess that.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Probably.

Although "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is apparently his most popular play in terms of how many productions of it there are annually. Most probably wouldn't guess that.

it's the easiest choice to make - you can design your way around a lot of actor levels (ie bad actors) and there is a lot of variety in the roles and only a few have to be played as adults
it also has lots or rolls for females who are usually the overwhelming majority of participants
OTOH, most every other popular shakespeare play requires at least 4-5 heavy hitter actors playing adult roles and is male heavy

one of the main reasons i avoid directing shakespeare (and watching amateur or semipro shakespeare) is the cast is seldom strong enough to really do it right (ie even if you get a good romeo and juliet and tybalt and mercutio, by the time you get to the parents and nurse and friar, et al, you're getting deep in your bench and probably don't have the talent to pull off those roles)

 

[Sun Wukong]

it's the easiest choice to make - you can design your way around a lot of actor levels (ie bad actors) and there is a lot of variety in the roles and only a few have to be played as adults
it also has lots or rolls for females who are usually the overwhelming majority of participants
OTOH, most every other popular shakespeare play requires at least 4-5 heavy hitter actors playing adult roles and is male heavy

one of the main reasons i avoid directing shakespeare (and watching amateur or semipro shakespeare) is the cast is seldom strong enough to really do it right (ie even if you get a good romeo and juliet and tybalt and mercutio, by the time you get to the parents and nurse and friar, et al, you're getting deep in your bench and probably don't have the talent to pull off those roles)

I once saw an amateur performance of "The Merry Wives of Windsor" in which everyone was wearing Hawaiian shirts and chino shorts and it's been over 20 years and it still sometimes keeps me awake at night.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I once saw an amateur performance of "The Merry Wives of Windsor" in which everyone was wearing Hawaiian shirts and chino shorts and it's been over 20 years and it still sometimes keeps me awake at night.

i wish i could offer sympathy - i've seen way too much bad theatre to offer succor to others

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Probably.

Although "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is apparently his most popular play in terms of how many productions of it there are annually. Most probably wouldn't guess that.

I wouldve guessed maybe As You Like It, or the Scottish play…. after Romeo & Juliet of course .

That said, im not really a fan of Shakespeare, though ive seen more productions than i can count.. i just think he’s .. wait for it…. Overrated . .. that said, i once did a monologue of his for a class that i think is really outstanding, the St Crispian’s Day speech from Henry V… “We few, we happy few- we band of brothers”…. i believe it was also done in the movie Major Payne, though i never saw it, only heard that.. in any case, that’s the only one of his works that ever spoke to me, but maybe i just didnt make enough effort .