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NEED TO KNOW
- Dave Franco and Alison Brie were sued for copyright infringement over their body horror film Together
- StudioFest accuses the couple of crafting the idea for the movie after declining to star in a similar-styled project Better Half
- Both projects include a couple whose bodies fuse together
Dave Franco and Alison Brie are being sued for copyright infringement for their 2025 body horror film Together.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday, May 13 by production company StudioFest alleges that Together is a “blatant rip-off” of Better Half, while also claiming Franco, 39, and Brie, 42, penned a script for Together alongside writer-director Michael Shanks after declining to star in the studio’s 2023 Sundance indie film, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
Both Better Half and Together feature supernatural elements including a couple’s body fusing together.
Named in the complaint are costars and producers Franco and Brie; Michael Shanks; WME, which represents all three; as well as Neon, the film’s distributor.
NEON
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“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,” the complaint states, per those outlets.
“Defendants used the same combination of the awkward physical attachment, the urgency to remain hidden, and the romantic subtext of the looming outsider to achieve a substantially similar feel,” the complaint adds.
A WME Spokesperson responded in a statement, “This lawsuit is frivolous and without merit. The facts in this case are clear and we plan to vigorously defend ourselves,”
PEOPLE has reached out to representatives of all other parties for comment.
NEON
Together marks the latest film that spouses Franco and Brie, who have been married since 2017. have starred together in. They’ve previously worked together iThe Little Hours, The Disaster Artist, Horse Girl and The Rental. Franco also directed Brie in Somebody I Used to Know.
During an interview with PEOPLE at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival in Austin, Texas in March, Brie told husband Franco that working with him is “very attractive.”
“I am always so in awe of you when we’re on set together,” added the Community alum, who has been married to Franco since 2017.
