I have heard many great things about the New Zealand horror comedy hit, Black Sheep for many months. Although, this movie’s concept seemed completely unique and fresh, there is a screenwriter that’s reporting that Black Sheep was originally HIS idea first.
The good folks at Cinematical give us this:
According to a report at Fangoria, the producers of Black Sheep might be getting sued by an aspiring screenwriter named Rafael Toba, who claims that his 2001 “Killer Sheep” screenplay was blatantly plagiarized by King & Company. Given that the ‘nature run amok’ sub-genre has been going strong for several decades now, couldn’t it just be a case of coincidence? Nope, says Mr. Toba: “If it were any other animal, it could be so … but sheep? Come on.” Fango cites a Spanish newspaper where they say that legal proceedings are already underway.
This truly makes me laugh. I have seen tons of movies about killer crocodiles, killer snakes, sharks, and bears. I don’t recall any of those screenwriters suing the other filmmakers just because they had the same idea.
I could understand if there were characters, lines of dialogue, and plot points taken straight out of Rafael Toba’s “Killer Sheep” script, but to say that the filmmakers are guilty of plagiarism just because they had a similar and inventive idea is just plain nonsense! Honestly, I really don’t believe he has a case. I have seen movies about killer snowmen, frogs, hobos, and condoms. Somebody was eventually going to come up with killer sheep at some point!
This to me sounds like a bitter screenwriter who is mad that somebody else beat him to the punch. Great minds think alike. Deal with it, man!
Catch “the supposed rip off” Black Sheep on DVD when it releases on October 7th, 2007.
