Director M. Night Shyamalan testified Wednesday that he and his collaborators on the Apple TV+ show “Servant” didn’t steal from a 2013 independent film about a delusional mother and her baby doll, reports Variety.
The director told jurors that the copyright dispute with “The Truth About Emanuel” director Francesca Gregorini is “clearly, 100%, a misunderstanding.”
“This accusation is the exact opposite of everything I do and everything I try to represent,” Shyamalan said.
In 2022 an appeals court ruled that the director of the 2013 film “The Truth About Emanuel” could proceed with her lawsuit against Apple and Shyamalan regarding the series. Before that, the case was dismissed in May of 2020, when Judge John F. Walter said that “Servant” was not similar enough to “Emanuel.” However, an appeals court then ruled in favor of director Francesca Gregorini.
The lawsuit claims that the Apple TV+ series “Servant” is a facsimile of Gergorini’s 2013 film, “The Truth About Emanuel.”
“Servant is a wholesale copy of Plaintiff Francesca Gregorini’s 2013 feature film The Truth About Emanuel,” the copyright infringement complaint and request for permanent injunction read. “As demonstrated by the long list of key parallels catalogued in Section III(C) of this Complaint, the misappropriation is not a mere borrowed premise, idea or story. 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.”
Shyamalan denies the charges, saying “Servant” was in development years before Gregorini’s film. The series is now streaming on Apple TV+.
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