'The Shape of Water', both written and directed by Guillermo del Toro is very much a favourite for this year's Oscar awards. The film has 13 nominations, including that of best film, best director and best original screenplay, although that last one has caused a bit of controversy, given that one dramatist and his family have called out del Toro for plagiarism. Paul Zindel believes 'The Shape of Water' is a copy of his theatrical work entitled 'Let Me Hear You Whisper'. The latter production focuses on a cleaner who tries and fails to free a dolphin from its enclosure within a science lab that wishes to use animals in military combat. There are some very clear similarities between the two works, but is there more to it than that?
The director himself spoke to Deadline about the situation: "I have never read nor seen the play. I'd never heard of this play before making 'The Shape of Water', and none of my collaborators ever mentioned the play".
The lawyer representing Paul Zindel and his family, Marc Toberoff, has since filed a lawsuit against the director stating it was pretty clear the idea had been stolen from his client. The lawsuit actually reads that the play is "a beloved work of fantasy/science fiction by an esteemed author, making the glaring similarities between the Picture and the Play too egregious to ignore".
del Toro has since mentioned that "I really cannot stomach the timing of this accusation. It's pretty transparent what is happening here. To me, it's actually a relief to take something from the arena of opinion into the arena of fact and law". 'The Shape of Water' producer, Daniel Kraus has also been named in the lawsuit, and del Toro came to his defence: "He has repeatedly said that he was not influenced by the play; he didn't know the play and has not seen the play, and that is the reason we are going to court". The claim has been going on for some time now, and so the studio responsible for the film, Fox Searchlight, have "ultimately decided that rather than succumb"... they are going to "take it to its ultimate realm, which is a court where we can defend ourselves".
A sincere response
As the Oscars draw nearer, Guillermo del Toro has had a lot on his plate in terms of defending his film. The director is practically a shoo-in for the award of best director and he doesn't want anything, like this lawsuit, to come in the way of that.
"The way the play has been described, in the suit and along the way as these reports have appeared, it seems to be undoubtedly about a dolphin, and animal experimentation, about an animal being freed from a lab, and that is the end of it", del Toro said. "'The Shape of Water' is so many things, so many colours. It's not about an animal, it's about an elemental river god. These ideas are not interchangeable or equivalent; this would be tantamount to saying that 'E.T.' would be the same story if you substituted the alien for a hamster", he stated.
"Our story and the layers are completely and entirely complex, interwoven with Russian spies, the Cold War, female friendships that are so complex and more important than that, which are completely original. The trope of an animal being liberated could be found in anything from 'Project X' to 'Splash', to 'Born Free' and 'Free Willy', to 'Starman', to an episode of 'Hey Arnold' or 'The Simpsons'. You could go on and on. You could also include 'The Day of the Dolphin', which in fact was written two years before the play. It's not a groundbreaking plot element. And the beauty of this movie doesn't boil down to a plot element from a play".
"I have been at this 25 years and have an unimpeachable reputation. I have always made it an element of my career to talk about my influences in every single movie I have made, in the comment track of DVDs, on Twitter, in my museum exhibitions. I have been open about the things I love, and I have had no problem discussing them and how they were transformational in my movies. This 25 year trajectory should come in handy. I have written or co-written about 24 screenplays. I am a writer/director who has generated TV series, books, movies and an enormous amount of screenplays through the years. Without a single complaint".
Clearly, the lawsuit has deeply effected del Toro, who remains adamant that 'The Shape of Water' was his idea. In their statement, Fox Searchlight stood with the director.
"These claims from Mr. Zindel's estate are baseless, wholly without merit and we will be filing a motion to dismiss. Furthermore, the estate's complaint seems timed to coincide with the Academy Award voting cycle in order to pressure our studio to quickly settle. Instead, we will vigorously defend ourselves and, by extension, this groundbreaking and original film".
