The Oscar-nominated film, The Holdovers, has been accused of plagiarism by screenwriter Simon Stephenson. He claimed that the Alexander Payne-directed movie shared similarities to his own script, Frisco, which went unproduced. Stephenson, in an email to the WGA, alleged that “beyond any possible doubt” the “meaningful entirety” of The Holdovers had been plagiarised from his script, including story, characters, structure, scenes, dialogue; “the whole thing. Some of it is just insanely brazen.” He also added that “many of the most important scenes are effectively unaltered and even remain visibly identical in layout on the page.”
Payne and Hemingson, the producers of The Holdovers, declined to comment on the allegations. Although unproduced, Frisco received considerable attention when it appeared at number 3 on the Black List, which runs an annual survey on the best unproduced screenplays in the industry. The case has sparked debate at WGA, with one of its officers finding the allegations “unsettling”.
According to Stephenson, Payne was in possession of the Frisco script on two occasions, in 2013 and late 2019. In 2013, Payne was reported as “liking” the script but “not interested in prod[ucing] or directing” Frisco, implying he had read it. But around 2019, Payne apparently came to screenwriter David Hemingson to propose working on a project, which was “backed up” by several emails from Hollywood agencies and producers. It was around this time that the production of The Holdovers began.
The Holdovers has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, along with Best Picture and Best Editing. Giamatti is also nominated for Best Actor, whilst Joy Randolph is up for Best Supporting Actress. Payne previously claimed that the idea for the movie came from “a 1935 French movie I’d seen at a film festival about a dozen years ago” and received a TV pilot set in a boarding school around five years ago. He suggested translating it into a film which eventually birthed The Holdover. The full list of plagiarism allegations can be found here
Read the full article on NME here: Read More