Screenwriter Simon Stephenson filed a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing director Alexander Payne of basing the movie "The Holdovers" on his unproduced screenplay set in a children's hospital.
Stephenson brought the claim to the Writers Guild of America in 2024, but the guild said it could not resolve the dispute and directed him to legal counsel. Payne later dismissed the allegation at the Sarajevo Film Festival, calling it "the stupidest thing in the world."
The complaint also lists "Holdovers" writer David Hemingson, producer Mark Johnson, Miramax, Focus Features and other corporate entities as defendants.
According to the filing, 46 "matched incidents" appear in both scripts. Stephenson's script, titled "Frisco," follows a disheartened hospital doctor caring for a precocious teenage patient; the pair travel to San Francisco, after which the doctor quits and embarks on a cross-country journey.
The suit argues the resemblances go beyond coincidence, stating that the structure and events of "Frisco" were "meticulously transposed into 'The Holdovers,' with surface cosmetic details changed."
"Screenplays are often called the blueprint for a film," the complaint reads. "The Defendants built their film using 'Frisco' as their blueprint."
Stephenson, who has writing credits on "Paddington 2," "Luca" and "The Electrical Life of Louis Wain," drafted "Frisco" in 2012-13, drawing on his background as a pediatrician. The script ranked third on the Black List of top unproduced Hollywood screenplays.
He says his agents tried to interest Payne in the project, getting the director to read the script in 2013 and again in 2019. While Payne reportedly liked it, his producing partner allegedly told Stephenson's agent that Payne was "not interested in prod or directing it."
The complaint further alleges that elements of "Frisco" entered "The Holdovers" drafts through Payne's input to Hemingson.
