Apple TV+, Night Shyamalan’s ‘Servant’ sued over copyright by Sundance’s ‘The Truth About Emanuel’ filmmaker
Apple TV+ and M. Night Shyamalan's show 'Servant' has been sued for copyrights infringement by filmmaker Francesca Gregorini who made the 2013 movie 'The Truth About Emanuel' just days before the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Gregorini's film premiered at the same festival seven years ago.
An injunction seeking lawsuit was filed by the filmmaker which claims that "Servant is a brazen copy of Plaintiff’s (Gregorini) 2013 feature film." Deadline shared the injunction suit that was filed which clearly maps out the plot similarities between 'Servant' and 'The Truth About Emanuel'.
The injunction further adds, "As demonstrated by the long list of key parallels cataloged in Section III(C) of this Complaint, the misappropriation is not a mere borrowed premise, idea or story." The complaint further adds, "Mr. Shyamalan has gone so far as to appropriate not just the plot of Emanuel—but also its use of cinematic language, creating a substantially similar feeling, mood, and theme."
It is also to be noted that the only key difference between 'Servant' and Gregorini's film happens to be gender. While "both works use magical realism to create an otherworldly mood", the fact that 'Servant' was made by men has resulted in "an added layer of sexism" in the Apple TV+ show.
Gregorini’s lead lawyer David Erikson provided a separate statement in which he stated: "Servant’s similarities to Emanuel are so pervasive, and so grounded in my client’s highly creative and uniquely personal artistic choices, that the idea they might have resulted from coincidence is preposterous. Watching the two works leaves no doubt that my client’s copyrighted expression was cavalierly misappropriated—easily meeting the standard for copyright infringement."
Apple TV+ has not made any comment about the suit as of now. Gregorini, however, said in an interview with The Atlantic that "I felt like my film had been studied in semiotics class and they had been given the task of ‘Remake this'.” She also asked, if "a movie that was in dramatic competition at Sundance … and [from] a filmmaker who had an established career in Hollywood. What is happening to everybody else?"
'Servant' was renewed for season 2 by the streaming partner and with the injunction, Gregorini hopes to shut down the show and also seeks justice for widespread but unspecified damages.
