MIAMI.- Director Alexander Payne and screenwriter David Hemingson were accused by Simon Stephenson of plagiarism for him film The Holdovers, that competes in a few hours in the scar in five categories, including Best Original Screenplay.
Stephenson, who is part of the writing group for the animated film Lucca, assured that Payne and Hemingson had access to the script of a story that he wrote in 2013 but that was not produced and whose name is Frisco. The man claimed that they plagiarized: “line by line.”
According to Variety magazine, the film that never saw the light of day tells the story of: “a middle-aged pediatrician tired of the world who is forced to take care of a 15-year-old patient.” While the premise of The Holdovers It is similar, as it tells how a high school teacher, a student and the administrator of the boarding school cafeteria stay together during the Christmas holidays.
Simon claims that Alexander Payne saw the script a decade ago and had access to it again in 2019.
Alleged facts
Variety notes that in 2013 Bryan Besser, founder of the Verve talent agency, informed Stephenson in an email that he had shared his story with Payne and his partner. However, the man told him that although he liked it, he was not interested in directing or producing the project.
In 2019, Payne read the script again but that time it wasn’t what he was looking for either.
The magazine reports that Stephenson has filed a complaint with the Writers Guild of America (WGA).
To date, it has not been revealed whether Alexander Payne and David Hemingson have met or spoken with Simon to seek a solution to the dispute.
The truth is that tonight, The Holdovers competes in the Best Editing and Best Film categories. Likewise, Paul Giamatti and DaVine Joy Randolph aspire to win the statuettes of Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has not commented on the matter either.
