American filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has been sued by Italian-born director Francesca Gregorini, who alleged that her show Servant The theme and key elements were stolen from his 2013 independent film, truth about emmanuelThe show streams on Apple TV.
Patrick Arranz, the attorney representing Francesca, showed the jury clips of both the film and the show as part of his opening arguments in federal court in Riverside, California, on Tuesday.
He argued that the two projects have surprising similarities, as they are both based on a mother who loves and nurtures a doll as if it were a real child, and a nanny who supports her in this illusion. Does it.
“It’s a simple matter. It won’t happen.” Servant Without Emmanuel,” Patrick argued to the jury.
M. Night Shyamalan was also in attendance at the test, along with his show’s creator Taylor Latham and Apple TV programming head Matt Cherniss.
Shyamalan’s lawyer Brittany Amadi argued to the jury that British writer Tony Basgallop, who created the series, had begun work on it. Servant long time ago truth about emmanuel was released, and no parts of the show were taken from the film.
Brittany argued, “Ms. Gregorini is looking for a windfall here. She’s demanding $81 million for work she didn’t do. The truth is that the creators of Servant owe Ms. Gregorini nothing. ”
The Italian-born filmmaker sued the studio that produced the film Servant This was after the series began streaming in January 2020. Then the matter was hush-hushed.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals later revived the case in 2022, when it found there was a genuine dispute over the two projects.
The jury will see and decide on the case truth about emmanuel and the first three episodes of Servant over the next two weeks, after which Shyamalan will testify along with the show’s other creators.
To prove that plagiarism had occurred, Francesca would have to prove two things – that there were sufficient similarities between the two projects, and that Shyamalan’s team had access to her film.
truth about emmanuel It stars Jessica Biel and Kaya Scodelario, and was a competitor at the Sundance Film Festival.
It didn’t make much money, which is an argument the defense used in support of their argument. They showed that the film grossed only $226 in Los Angeles, and only $9 from a single audience in Philadelphia.
