A screenwriter sued Alexander Payne on Wednesday, alleging that the script for “The Holdovers” was based on his unproduced screenplay set at a children’s hospital.
\n\nThe screenwriter, Simon Stephenson, took his allegations to the Writers Guild of America in 2024, but was advised that the union could not adjudicate the issue and was referred to a lawyer. Payne later denied the allegations at the Sarajevo Film Festival, saying the claim was “the stupidest thing in the world.”
\n\nIn addition to Payne, the lawsuit names as defendants “Holdovers” screenwriter David Hemingson, producer Mark Johnson, Miramax, Focus Features, and other corporate entities.
\n\nThe suit contends that there are 46 “matched incidents” in the plots of the two scripts. As described in the complaint, Stephenson’s script, “Frisco,” tells the story of a dispirited doctor at the hospital who is stuck looking after a precocious teenage patient. The two develop a friendship on a trip to San Francisco, culminating in the doctor’s decision to quit his job and set off on a cross-country trek.
\n\nThe lawsuit argues that the similarities with “The Holdovers” are more than mere coincidence, and that the structure and incidents of “Frisco” “were meticulously transposed into ‘The Holdovers,’ with surface…
Original source: https://variety.com/