M. Night Shyamalan's Apple TV+ series Servant accused of ripping off a 2013 Sundance film

Deadline

Apple TV+ has been hit with its first high-profile lawsuit after director Francesca Gregorini accused Shyamalan and Servant creator Tony Basgallop of creating a "wholesale copy" of her 2013 Sundance thriller The Truth About Emanuel, starring Jessica Biel and Kaya Scodelario. “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," argues the copyright infringement lawsuit that was filed today. The lawsuit also accuses the Apple TV+ series of “an added layer of sexism” for shifting the gender perspectives from men to women. "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,” says Gregorini’s lawyer David Erikson in a statement to Deadline. “Watching the two works leaves no doubt that my client’s copyrighted expression was cavalierly misappropriated—easily meeting the standard for copyright infringement.” Apple has yet to respond to the lawsuit.