Oscars 2024. Director of “Winter Solstice” accused of plagiarism?

The echoes of the Oscar gala that took place on the night from Sunday to Monday are still echoing. One of the winners was Da’Vine Joy Randolph, awarded the statuette for best supporting actress. The woman played the role of Mary – a cook and mother who lost her son in the war and the heroine of the brilliant film “Winter Solstice”. Meanwhile, information regarding alleged plagiarism committed by the film’s director, Alexander Payne, and the author of the script, David Hemingson, circulated among the public.

Plagiarism. Did the director of “Winter Solstice” infringe copyright?

Simon Stephenson, director of films such as “The Mad World of Louis Wain” and “Luca”, in a message to the Writers Guild of America accused the two men of plagiarizing the script for the film “Frisco” (never ultimately shot) and using it to create the story told in ” “Winter Solstice.”

—The evidence that the “Winter Solstice” script was rewritten line by line from the “Frisco” script is overwhelming. Anyone who looks at even the briefest fragment uses the word “insolent” almost without exception. — we can read in Stephenson’s e-mail quoted by Variety.

In fact, the similarities between the two films seem to confirm Stephenson’s words. “Winter Solstice” tells the story of a world-weary middle-aged teacher (Paul Giamatti) forced to care for a wayward teenager. The main character of “Frisco” is also a world-weary doctor who takes care of a teenager.