Oscar-nominated film ‘The Holdovers’ accused of line-by-line plagiarism at 11th hour

Well, this is awkward...

We thought that the biggest hoopla at this year’s Oscars would be the absence of Messi, the dog from Anatomy of a Fall, who is rumoured not to be attending the ceremony in a few hours because some members of the Academy were none to pleased with the dog doing the rounds.

Seriously – some companies with nominated films were complaining about the good boy attending Oscars luncheons because the pooch was giving the film an unfair boost during the voting window.

Same old Hollywood...

But now, a bigger bombshell has dropped.

The Oscar nominated film The Holdovers – a major awards contender nominated five times for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing (and one of our favourite films of 2023) – is facing controversy only hours before the Oscars ceremony.

Alexander Payne’s film, scripted by David Hemingson, has been accused of line-by-line plagiarism. What’s worse is that the film is nominated for Best Original Screenplay, against Maestro, Anatomy of a Fall, May December and Past Lives - which ended its voting window late last month.

According to Luca and Paddington 2 writer Simon Stephenson, the script has striking similarities to his unproduced 2013 screenplay Frisco, about a cynical paediatrician who finds himself looking after a teenage patient over a period of days. The Holdovers stars Paul Giamatti (a favourite to win Best Actor tonight alongside Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer) as a cynical and world-weary teacher who is looking after a teenage student over a period of days at a boarding school.

Stephenson presented documents comparing scenes from both screenplays, and sent them to the WGA in January to seek help. Now, Variety has made one of those