Luca Writer Accuses The Holdovers of Big Fat Liar-ing Their Script
Luca writer Simon Stephenson is accusing director Alexander Payne and writer David Hemingson’s The Holdovers of plagiarizing his 2013 script, Frisco, “line by line,” reports Variety. Frisco follows a “world-weary middle-aged children’s doctor and the 15-year-old patient he gets stuck looking after,” while The Holdovers follows a teacher, student, and cafeteria manager at a boarding school who get stuck together over Christmas break. Stephenson claims that Payne had the original script not once but twice. In 2013, Verve founder Bryan Besser emailed Stephenson that they had sent the script to Payne’s producing partner Jim Burke and ultimately, Payne “did like [the script] but was not interested in prod or directing it.” Then, the script allegedly ended up on Payne’s desk again in 2019: Brightstar’s John Woodward reportedly emailed Stephenson, “Sorry to say that Alexander has now read but says it is not quite what he is looking for.”
When discussing the construction of the film’s central plot, Payne said in an interview he was inspired by David Hemingson’s pilot set in a boarding school and asked him to write a story for him “set in that same world.” Stephenson is reportedly still addressing his complaint with the WGA. Vulture has reached out to Payne, Hemingson, and Stephenson’s reps for comment.
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