RIVERSIDE, Calif. (Diya TV) — Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan testified in Riverside court in a high profile plagiarism case involving Apple TV+’s Servant series. The plaintiff, Italian director Francesca Gregorini, sued Shyamalan and Apple TV+ for copyright infringement and seeks $81 million in damages, claiming Shyamalan borrowed details from her own 2013 film “The Truth About Emanuel.”
Shyamalan, who directed the first episode of Servant and is an executive producer, outright dismissed the claims and said the lawsuit was “the exact opposite of everything I do and everything I try to represent,” according to Variety.
Gregorini’s legal battle started in 2020 when she claimed that Servant borrowed key elements from “The Truth About Emanuel,” a psychological drama about a nanny helping a grieving mother who believes a doll is her child. The case was dismissed at first, but the Court of Appeals revived it in 2022, leading to the current trial.
During his testimony, Shyamalan stated he had only watched Emanuel for the first time earlier this month. He argued that any similarities were merely the result of shared cinematic tropes. “We’re all in a long line of learning from each other,” he said, referencing iconic directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick.
Shyamalan also highlighted his commitment to original storytelling, comparing the lawsuit to a wrongful accusation of jewelry theft.
