Alexander Payne sued over The Holdovers plagiarism accusations

Then, as now, Stephenson asserts that The Holdovers contains numerous similarities to Frisco, most obviously a premise that involves a crusty older man (a pediatrician in Frisco‘s case, as opposed to the classics teacher portrayed by Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers) who gets some of his passion for life back after being put in reluctant charge of a rebellious teenager, complete with a trip taken by the two characters. Stephenson also continues to assert that Payne was presented with the Frisco script at least twice, once when it was first making the rounds of Hollywood’s best unproduced screenplays, and then again, several years later, when Netflix tried to entice Payne aboard to film it. (THR notes, meanwhile, that while these kinds of plagiarism accusations aren’t exactly rare in Hollywood, it is uncommon for someone far enough on the inside to get a writing credit on a Disney movie to take these kinds of potentially reputation-blasting swings.)

Payne has long denied the accusations, saying that he actually took inspiration for the movie from 1935 French film Merlusse, which is, indeed, about a boarding school teacher looking after kids left at the school during the Christmas holiday. “That’s where I stole it from,” Payne said, with deliberate irony, in a conversation from a few months after the accusations came out, calling the controversy surrounding Stephenson’s allegations “The stupidest thing in the world.” (Stephenson’s lawyers acknowledge the similarities to the older film, but still argue that The Holdovers script uses Frisco as its “blueprint.”)  Per THR, Stephenson apparently previously tried to litigate his claim in front of the WGA, but the guild ultimately determined it wasn’t the right venue for the argument. Hence, presumably, the lawsuit: Stephenson is reportedly seeking damages, as well as a court order banning further exploitation of The Holdovers.