Alison Brie and Dave Franco face copyright suit over body horror ‘Together’
Hollywood actors Dave Franco and Alison Brie, as well as writer and director Michael Shanks, have been named defendants in a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement on their upcoming body horror movie Together.
The lawsuit states that Together is a “blatant rip-off” of Better Half, a 2023 independent movie written and directed by Patrick Henry Phelan. Phelan, a former New York assistant director and USC MFA graduate, made the film as his feature debut through the production company StudioFest, the sole plaintiff in the suit.
Other defendants include WME, which represents Shanks, Brie and Franco, as well as the film’s distributor Neon, who most recently produced Sean Baker’s Oscar-winning Anora. Neon snapped up the rights at Sundance Film Festival for $17 million, which was the biggest deal of the year.
A WME spokesperson commented on the lawsuit, claiming that it is “frivolous and without merit. The facts in this case are clear and we plan to vigorously defend ourselves.”
“Together is a blatant rip-off of Better Half,” the copyright suit states. “Both works centre around a couple who wake up to find their bodies physically fused together as a metaphor for codependency. The similarities do not end there. Defendants lifted wholesale creative elements, including but not limited to, plot, themes, characters, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, and sequence of events.”
According to the filing, the script for Better Half was pitched to Franco and Brie in August 2020. They were approached for the lead roles. It’s alleged that Brie and Franco rejected the offer because “they wanted to produce the film themselves and have WME package the project with one of the agency’s own writers.”
Five years later, StudioFest were made aware that Franco and Brie were producing and starring in Together. Moreover, StudioFest is seeking damages and an injunction to prevent further infringement of its copyright.
The film is currently still set for a July 30th release.
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