An established writer has come forward and accused The Holdovers screenplay of plagiarizing one of his scripts, and fans are already taking sides.
For many, The Holdovers might have been the best movie of 2023. Set in an empty boarding school over winter break, it follows the tense relationship between a resentful young student and an irritated schoolteacher who have to hunker down together. The film earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and received critical acclaim.
However, recent accusations have put a damper on The Holdovers‘ success. Simon Stephenson (known for penning Paddington 2), has complained to the Writers Guild of America, alleging the script is almost an exact copy of an earlier screenplay of his, titled ‘Frisco’. Although David Hemingson is credited as the screenwriter for The Holdovers, the film was directed by Alexander Payne, who Stephenson alleges had possession of the Frisco script in 2013 and 2019.
Payne (who received allegations of statutory rape in 2020), has yet to comment on the plagiarism accusations. But with The Holdovers up for numerous accolades at tonight’s Oscars, all eyes are on it.
Fans divided over The Holdovers plagiarism accusations
After the plagiarism accusation became public, reactions on social media quickly came in, with divided opinions on whether the screenplays can actually be deemed as similar.
According to Variety, Simon Stephenson wrote an email to the WGA board, saying: “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 plagiarized line-by-line from a popular unproduced screenplay of mine.”
A full breakdown of the similarities was also released, where scenes were placed together and story beats were compared.
The news has since circulated the internet, with many seemingly believing the accusation.
“This is terrible news for someone who is both obsessed with The Holdovers and Paddington 2,” one X user wrote.
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“I’m inclined to believe the side that brought us Paddington 2,” said another.
“Aw man that sucks, while I absolutely loved The Holdovers it’s a shame to see plagiarism on this kind of scale,” another added.
Meanwhile, others seemed much less sympathetic, arguing that the scripts weren’t all that similar.
if you were the writer of THE HOLDOVERS you would have written THE HOLDOVERS pic.twitter.com/vJqoEWzOP5
— FilmBart (@FilmBart) March 9, 2024
“The Variety article really made it sound like that guy had a strong case re: The Holdovers, but then you get to the attached script excerpts and the entire thing falls apart,” one person wrote.
Another added: “Am I the only one who finds this extremely superficial & basic? Because I can think of hundreds of other films where characters smoke or are called to talk with their boss. Now, I really want The Holdovers to win. This plagiarism accusation is nothing.”
“Lol read through the examples and it’s the most broad strokes stuff,” said one comment.
With The Holdovers nominated across the board for tonight’s 96th Academy Awards ceremony (and with voting already locked-in), it’ll be a tense moment when the award for Best Original Screenplay is handed out.
