Bay Area's own Dave Franco and his wife, Alison Brie, find themselves in legal hot water after their Sundance horror hit, "Together," has been slammed with a copyright infringement lawsuit. The claim made by StudioFest, the minds behind the 2023 film "Better Half," is that "Together" bears a striking resemblance to their work in more ways than one. StudioFest's allegations go beyond basic thematic similarities; they're pointing fingers at specific elements ranging from dialogue to plot details, as they told the SF Chronicle.
While both films center on a couple bizarrely morphed into one, StudioFest alleges it's the fine print that makes the case. The lawsuit, which includes hefty players such as writer-director Michael Shanks and Neon, the distributor, argues that Franco and Brie's movie echoes theirs from Plato's Symposium references to an oddly specific Spice Girls' "Spiceworld" vinyl popping up, as Rolling Stone reported. To make things more personal, the suit insists that a script for "Better Half" was sent to Franco and Brie's agents at WME, with a pitch for the duo to star, a proposal they allegedly rejected.
According to court documents, StudioFest got the first wind of "Together" after noticing a familiar promotional image that looked almost identical to one from "Better Half." The legal paperwork details their anguish as Better Half producers witnessed what they deemed to be their creative baby, rehashed on screen during a Sundance screening, leaving them in "stunned silence."
A spokesperson from WME snapped back, calling the lawsuit "frivolous and without merit." They doubled down, adding "The facts in this case are clear and we plan to vigorously defend ourselves," in a statement shared with Rolling Stone. However, the plaintiff appears steadfast in their position, laying out scene-by-scene grievances alleging that even character archetypes, and a specific bathroom sequence, are too close for comfort.
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