Plagiarism Allegations Against the Film *The Shape of Water*.

As the night of the Oscar , controversy is growing surrounding the films selected by the Academy Awards to compete for the prestigious statuette. 

Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water" nominated for 13 awards Oscar , is accused of plagiarism: the film is allegedly based on the 1969 play 'Let Me Hear You Whisper' by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Zindel. The lawsuit filed against the film's director, producer, and studio is by David Zindel, the son and heir of the famous playwright, who bluntly accuses them of "shamelessly copying the story, elements, and characters" from his father's play, even using the same words.

 The judge will now decide whether Zindel's accusations are true. This isn't the first time, however, that Hollywood has seen battles over plagiarism accusations, especially in the case of films expected to be blockbusters.

Sergio Leone's classic Western , A Fistful of Dollars, is one of the pinnacles of its genre, thanks in part to the incredible performance of Clint Eastwood, a drifter gunslinger whose wanderings lead him into a conflict between two families in a small village on the Mexican border. Unfortunately, the film is also an unauthorized remake of Akira Kurosawa's samurai film, The Samurai . Kurosawa sent Leone a letter saying, "Good film, but it was my film," and sued him for a percentage of the proceeds. The two agreed to a $100,000 refund and a 15% share of the worldwide profits.
Another high-profile case was that of The Terminator. Harlan Ellison is one of the most controversial authors in the entire world of American science fiction, and there are now dozens of lawsuits against people accused of stealing his ideas. However, the lawsuit he filed against James Cameron for The Terminator was slightly different. Ellison wrote an episode of The Outer Limits called Demon With a Glass Hand , which told the story of a robot soldier who, disguised as a human, is sent back in time. Orion Pictures decided to pay a settlement before the case even reached court, and Ellison received money and was credited on the film.

Finally, there is the case of “Coming to America.” In 1982, renowned screenwriter Art Buchwald wrote a treatment for Paramount called “The King for a Day ,” in which the protagonist was a rich and arrogant African king traveling to America. The protagonist was supposed to be Eddie Murphy. Paramount bought the treatment and spent a few years trying in vain to find someone to write the screenplay, before abandoning the project in 1985. The rights thus reverted to Buchwald, who sold them to Warner Brothers. Paramount later made a film with Eddie Murphy playing a rich and ignorant African king traveling to the United States. The film was called “Coming to America .” Buchwald was neither paid nor credited, so he sued, but Paramount settled privately with him for an undisclosed sum.