The much-awaited and the biggest night in Cinema is just around the corner. Everyone is waiting or rooting for their favorite star or film to win the respective category. Amidst such excitement, one film that earned five Oscar nominations this year has been accused of plagiarism. Luca and Paddington 2 writer Simon Stephenson claims that Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers has striking similarities to his film.
The Holdovers’ script has earned five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Paul Giamatti, Best Supporting Actress for Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Best Original Screenplay for David Hemingson.
Simon Stephenson sent an email to the Writers Guild of America stating that this favorite-to-win movie clearly copied his unproduced dramedy project.
The Holdovers Accused of Plagiarism by Luca Writer Simon Stephenson
Luca writer Simon Stephenson has made a bold claim ahead of the Oscars night that Alexander Payne’s Oscar-nominated film The Holdovers “has been plagiarized line-by-line” from his own script for an unmade film called Frisco.
According to a new report from Variety, Stephenson prepared both movies’ screenplay and structure, and having found the similarities, he sent the report to the WGA in January to seek help. In the letter sent to the Writers Guild of America board, Stephenson wrote,
“I can demonstrate beyond any possible doubt that the meaningful entirety of the screenplay for a film with WGA-sanctioned credits that is currently on track to win a screenwriting Oscar has been plagiarised line-by-line from a popular unproduced screenplay of mine. I can also show that the director of the offending film was sent and read my screenplay on two separate occasions prior to the offending film entering development. By ‘meaningful entirety’ I do mean literally everything- story, characters, structure, scenes, dialogue, the whole thing. Some of it is just insanely brazen: many of the most important scenes are effectively unaltered and even remain visibly identical in layout on the page.”
Holdovers follows a disgruntled boarding school teacher who is left in charge of a 15-year-old student over the holidays. And, Frisco tells the story of a disgruntled children’s doctor who gets stuck looking after a 15-year-old patient. Stephenson says that after spending 20 years in the industry, he finds it hard to understand that such similarities between the two screenplays are just mere coincidence.
Fans Have Mixed Reactions to This Shocking Update
While some fans think that such similarities are bound to happen and it can not be regarded as plagiarism, some think otherwise.
As of Saturday, Payne and Hemingson have declined to comment on the allegations.
It’s not even that similar lmao
— Laszlo (@Laszlo21792025) March 9, 2024
How is this a case??? These are basic similarities not anything grounds for a lawsuit😭
— ©️ (@V1N1JR) March 9, 2024
"Protagonist is in a disvaorable position with their boss due to past issue" is basic.
"Protagonist's past issue is that they insulted a politician connected to boss" is similar.
30 more similarities is cause for plagiarism accusations.
— o.o (@LanoomAES) March 9, 2024
Guess it can win for the best adapted screenplay lol
— Eddie (@OHMYDIAZ) March 9, 2024
Imagination is a dead art. Everyone is recreating existing material or in this case, repackaging it to make it "new".
— RadicalFriction (@RadicalFriction) March 9, 2024
Payne told the Los Angeles Times last year that the film was inspired by a 1935 French film Merlusse by Marcel Pagnol, which tells the story of a curmudgeonly teacher who is charged with looking after boarding school students over the holidays.
The Holdovers script is competing against Maestro, Anatomy of a Fall, May December, and Past Lives for best original screenplay at the Oscars.
