'The Holdovers' team faces serious accusations ahead of Oscars

Screenwriter Simon Stephenson has made serious accusations against The Holdovers screenwriter David Hemingson and director Alexander Payne.

Alleging that the Oscar-nominated movie plagiarized the script, Simon, who is also the acclaimed screenwriter behind Luca, sent an email regarding the matter to the Writers Guild of America’s senior director of credits Lesley Mackey.

According to Variety, Simon claimed that The Holdovers screenplay is “line-by-line” similar to his script of Frisco.

Moreover, Simon also claimed that Alexander owned the script for his movie in 2013 and again in late 2019, purportedly before he reached out to David for a different collaboration.

The outlet also reported that the allegations are supported by a bunch of emails involving a number of Hollywood producers and agencies.

The allegations come amid Oscar season as the movie will be competing for five nominations, including one for best original screenplay.

Other contenders in the category include Justine Triet and Arthur Harari’s Anatomy of a Fall, Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer's Maestro, Samy Burch's May December, and Ceiline Song's Past Lives.

As the voting has already been closed with the ceremony set to take place on Sunday, March 10, David could win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, according to Radar Online.