The political thriller Syriana landed director/screenwriter Stephen Gaghan an Oscar nod for best original screenplay, but it might not be oh so original after all.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, French screenwriter Stephanie Vergniault, currently living in Jordan, is claiming that the film stole entire scenes and characters from a script she wrote a few years back. In response, she is suing Warner Bros. Pictures, George Clooney’s production company, and Gaghan himself.
In a statement made on Tuesday, Vergniault said: "I live in a part of the world where we have no access to the latest films, and I would never have seen Syriana if a friend of mine based in Los Angeles hadn't alerted me. She continued, "I saw the film entirely by accident, and I'm still in a state of shock that someone of the caliber of Stephen Gaghan could stoop so low. At least 15 to 20 scenes of the film -- the characters and how they develop, creative elements, the entire structure -- has been lifted directly from my script. I couldn't stop screaming when I first saw the film in a movie hall in L.A. First I thought I was going crazy, seeing my work on the screen, and then, when I realized what had happened, I was furious."
Gaghan had originally submitted his script for the best adapted screenplay race, compiling research from Robert Baer's memoir, "See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism”, but the Academy moved him to the original screenplay category instead. Still, he is not claiming familiarity with Vergniault’s script, which is legally copyrighted.
These kinds of cases appear all the time, where someone feels their idea is plagiarized without any due credit or cash advances. In this scenario, she may have a pretty strong argument in her favor. If that’s the case, Clooney and his production team may be in hot water.
