M. Night Shymalayan sued over Servant similarities again

Would there be Servant without The Truth About Emanuel, a 2013 indie about a woman who cares for a doll like it were a real baby? Director Francesca Gregorini believes not, and she’s suing M. Night Shyamalan for allegedly copying her idea to make the Apple TV+ show Servant, which follows a similarly delusional mother. Per Variety, Gregorini’s lawyers argued that the plot similarities between the two properties, including the wrinkle that a nanny joins the woman in the delusion, means “There would be no Servant without Emanuel.” Meanwhile, Shyamalan’s attorney thinks Gregorini is seeking an $81 million “windfall.”

Gregorini previously filed a copyright lawsuit against Shyamalan, referring to his work as “gender arrogance,” arguing that Servant is a “caricature of the male gaze” and a “bastardization of Ms. Gregorini’s work.” That case was tossed out months later, and Gregorini was ordered to pay the defendant’s legal fees of $162,467. At the time, the court determined that “reviewing the two works makes clear that Servant did not copy protectable elements of Emanuel,” calling the plaintiff’s arguments a “list of scattershot similarities, many of which the Court found to be ‘mischaracterizations of one or both the works at issue,’ in an attempt to twist two highly dissimilar works into similarity.” Nevertheless, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals revived the suit in 2022. Despite Apple’s attempts to get the suit thrown out again, the judge ordered a jury trial in a twist befitting Shyamalan.

Shyamalan’s argument centers on the fact that Gregorini did not invent “reborn dolls,” lifelike dolls typically used as a form of grief therapy. His lawyers are also countering allegations that she’s fighting “Hollywood elites” due to her family connections. Gregorini is the daughter of an “Italian count” and Bond girl Barbara Bach, who later married Ringo Starr. Indeed, with peace and love, Starr is Gregoini’s stepfather, which doesn’t mean all that much but is kind of funny.

Shyamalan is expected to testify in the trial, which is expected to run about two weeks.