Alison Brie and Dave Franco have been hit with a copyright infringement suit over “Together,” their horror film that sold for a reported $17 million at Sundance.
The suit alleges that the film is a “blatant rip-off” of “Better Half,” a 2023 indie. https://t.co/7Lpd3UPr9v
Couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco are now facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over their new horror film, Together. The lawsuit alleges that their film is a "blatant rip-off" of the 2023 film Better Half. Both films are about a couple who wake up to find their bodies physically fused together as a metaphor for codependency along with several other plot points, themes, characters, dialogue, etc.
Other defendants named in the lawsuit are writer/director Michael Shanks, distributor Neon, and the talent agency WME (of which a spokesperson declared the lawsuit, "frivolous and without merit" and that WME will "vigorously defend ourselves"). The only listed plaintiff in the lawsuit is StudioFest, the production company of Better Half, who are also demanding a jury trial.
In August 2020, the casting director for Better Half messaged Brie and Franco's WME representatives with an offer for their clients to be leads in the film. Her email contained a synopsis and the full script of the film. Their reps turned down the offer. The plaintiff believes "that Defendants engaged in an intentional scheme to copy Better Half, and that Franco and Brie rejected StudioFest's offer because they wanted to produce the film themselves and have WME package the project with one of the agency's own writers."
The plaintiffs heard about Franco and Brie's project through industry trades and attended Sundance to watch their film in order to see how similar the two films were upon which they concluded that the defendants "stole virtually every unique aspect of Better Half's copyrightable expression".
-Both films also invoke Plato's Symoposium with Together referencing it virtually verbatim to the way Better Half refers to it
-Both films protagonists have the same jobs (teacher and punk artist) and relationship struggles
-Both films use rodents to illustrate being fused together with Better Half using two mice, and Together using two rats
-Both films have a character obsessed with the Spice Girls
-Both films allegedly have similar bathroom sequences (in regards to framing) of the leads being attached at the genitals
-Both films end with the couple pulling out a vinyl record of the Spice Girls' Spiceworld
source
THE FULL LAWSUIT
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