Dave Franco and his wife Alison Brie are being sued for $17million. Why? It’s all because of their new movie, Together, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The plot of the horror film follows a couple, played by Franco and Brie, whose bodies end up conjoined after an argument.

And while it might be a worst nightmare for squeamish moviegoers, the film was clearly a hit. Together has received a coveted 100% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, and there was reportedly a bidding war for the film, with distributor Neon buying the rights for $17 million.

But now Franco and Brie are facing legal trouble, as they have been accused of ripping off 2023 film, Better Half. Brie, Franco, and the film’s writer and director Michael Shanks were named in a lawsuit earlier this month alleging copyright infringement from the team behind the indie flick. Other defendants in the suit include WME – who represent Shanks, Brie and Franco – and Neon. StudioFest are the sole plaintiff in the suit, the production company that writer and director Patrick Henry Phelan made the film with.

So, let’s break down the lawsuit…

It claims Phelan pitched a script for Franco and Brie to play the lead roles back in 2020, which was turned down by the couple and their agents WME. According to the suit, Franco’s agent responded saying: ‘Dave is going to pass, but thank you for thinking of him’. The lawsuit continues to allege it was rejected as ‘they wanted to produce the film themselves and have WME package the project with one of the agency’s own writers’.

Despite Franco and Brie passing on starring in Better Half, it was released in 2023, with Connor Paolo and Dianne Doan in the main roles. It was also marketed as a romantic comedy, rather than a horror, when it appeared at the Brooklyn Film Festival.

The lawsuit claims producers on Better Half, Jess Jacklin and Charles Beale, were surprised when they went to watch Together at Sundance. ‘As the audience laughed and cheered, Jacklin and Beale sat in stunned silence, their worst nightmare unfolding,’ the suit states. ‘Scene after scene confirmed that Defendants did not simply take “stock ideas” or “scenes a faire” but stole virtually every unique aspect of Better Half’s copyrightable expression.’

The lawsuit then goes on to claim there are many similarities between the movies, claiming ‘defendants lifted wholesale creative elements, including but not limited to, plot, themes, characters, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, and sequence of events’.

‘In both Better Half and Together, the main characters struggle to navigate daily life as their physical attachment progresses and they start to control each other’s body parts,’ the complaint alleges. ‘While at first they desperately search for ways to detach their bodies — from medical intervention to chainsaws — by the end, they resign themselves to their conjoined existence.’

It also claims that the film rips off ‘Better Half’s explicit reference to Plato’s Symposium. ‘In both works, Plato’s Symposium serves as a thematic vehicle to explore the idea that humans were once whole but were split apart, leaving them searching for their missing half,’ the suit adds. ‘Indeed, Together copies Better Half’s explicit reference to Plato’s Symposium in a virtually verbatim way.’

The lawsuit alleges that one scene in particular – when the couple become fused after sex – is incredibly similar to a scene in Better Half. ‘Both works feature a strikingly similar bathroom sequence where the protagonists become attached at the genitals and attempt to hide their intimate encounter from a minor character waiting just outside,’ the lawsuit continues. ‘This is not a generic comedic trope – it is a highly specific, artistic choice that plays out in a nearly identical fashion with both works framing the scene using a visual shot of the minor character’s feet peeking out from just outside the door.’

Spoiler alert: the lawsuit also says both films have the same finale. ‘Both works end in the same way, with the couple pulling out a vinyl record of the Spice Girls album – Spiceworld – in the scene where they accept their fate,’ the lawsuit claims.

A spokesperson for WME has called the lawsuit ‘frivolous and without merit’, adding, ‘The facts in this case are clear and we plan to vigorously defend ourselves.’

Together is set to be released in the US on 30 July. The plot for the film reads: ‘Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie (Dave Franco and Alison Brie) find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other. With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.’