Welcome to ICYMI, where we recap the pop culture and entertainment news you might have missed over the past week.
Sydney Film Festival opening movie slapped with copyright lawsuit
Anticipation for Together — the new body horror starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie — has been steadily building since Neon bought it for an eye-watering $US17 million ($26.5 million) at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
The debut feature film from Australian Youtuber turned writer and director Michael Shanks, Together is now facing a copyright lawsuit that claims it “blatantly” ripped ideas from Patrick Phelan’s 2023 black comedy, Better Half.
A lawsuit filed by Better Half producers StudioFest in California on Tuesday names Shanks, Franco, Brie, Neon and talent agency William Morris Endeavor (WME) as plaintiffs.
The complaint claims that StudioFest optioned Phelan’s script for Better Half in 2019. In late 2020, producers sent an email to Brie and Franco’s WME representatives that pitched the couple as leads on the film and had a full version of the script attached.
The following day, the representatives responded saying the couple were passing on the project. Production went ahead with different leads and Better Half premiered in 2023 and was screened at several film festivals to little fanfare.
The lawsuit claims that both films use Plato’s Symposium as inspiration for a narrative about a couple physically fusing together as a metaphor for co-dependency. It also claims they both have identical endings that feature a vinyl record of Spice Girls’ 1997 album, Spiceworld.
Other claims include the duplication of a comical scene in which both couples become fused at the genitals, similar visual motifs and identical character details.
According to interviews with Shanks, WME connected him with Franco who then involved his wife, Brie.
“I remember reading the [Together] script and immediately turning to Alison to say, ‘I think we should act in this one together,’ because the characters had been together for over a decade,” Franco told The Hollywood Reporter.
Alison Brie, Michael Shanks and Dave Franco at Together’s Sundance premiere event in January. (Getty: Neilson Barnard)
WME said in a statement that the lawsuit was “frivolous and without merit”.
“The facts in this case are clear and we plan to vigorously defend ourselves,” it added.
Together is slated as the opening night film at the upcoming Sydney Film Festival. A spokesperson for the festival confirmed to ABC Entertainment that the screening would go ahead as planned on June 4 and that Shanks would be in attendance.
Australia’s 2025 Eurovision result is in and the internet has thoughts
If you’re not a Eurovision tragic (complimentary) who woke up at 5am to watch the second Eurovision 2025 semi-final and you don’t want spoilers, this is your warning.
Australia’s Milkshake Man, Go-Jo, has not made it through to the grand final.
It’s the second year in a row we’ve failed to qualify, after Electric Fields was also kicked out in 2024.
But it’s more of a shock this time around: Go-Jo was consistently ranking in the top third of all the 2025 acts and, just days ago Emily Griggs, head of the Australian delegation and SBS Entertainment, told the ABC she believed the Milkshake Man had “what it takes to push us back into the top 10”.
Suffice to say, a lot of people on the internet have feelings:
Wicked’s Cynthia Erivo to star in Aussie adaptation of Dracula
Oscar-nominated Wicked lead and British musical theatre star Cynthia Erivo is set to star in a one-woman version of Dracula on London’s West End, created by Australian director and playwright Kip Williams.
The “cine-theatre” adaptation of Bram Stoker’s gothic horror novel, which melds live performance with live and prerecorded video, will star Erivo in all 23 roles, including the iconic vampire.
Cynthia Erivo will play 23 characters in a new adaptation of Dracula from the Australian creative team behind The Picture of Dorian Gray. (Pictured at the Meta Gala earlier this month.) (AP: Invision/Evan Agostini)
It’s her first stage role since The Color Purple in 2016, which won her a Tony Award.
On Instagram, Erivo described returning to the theatre as a “homecoming” and a “huge challenge”.
“From the moment I was asked, I could not get the role out of my mind. Kip Williams’s vision is thrilling, terrifying, and deeply resonant, offering a chance to sit with not only the darkness in the world, but also the light we fight to hold onto … This show will ask everything of me — and I’m ready to give it.”
Williams’s adaptation of Dracula first opened at Sydney Theatre Company in 2024, starring Australian actor Zahra Newman (ABC TV’s Diary of an Uber Driver).
In Dracula at Sydney Theatre Company, Zahra Newman played all 23 characters, including naive solicitor Jonathan Harker and his fiancée Mina. (Supplied: STC/Daniel Boud)
Speaking to ABC Arts in 2024, Williams described the play as about the tension between desire and fear, and “the monster within”.
Dracula follows the success of Williams’s one-woman cine-theatre adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, starring Sarah Snook, which is up for six Tonys and won two Olivier Awards. It’s on Broadway until June 29.
Dracula starring Cynthia Erivo opens in February 2026.
Lead actor cast for Buffy reboot
The Buffy reboot series is one step closer to our screens, with 15-year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong announced as the lead alongside returning star Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Gellar shared an adorable video to her Instagram of the moment she let Armstrong in on the big news.
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Armstrong has already featured in TV projects like Anne with an E and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, as well as starring alongside Zac Efron in the 2022 film adaptation of Stephen King’s Firestarter.
Multiple Academy Award-winner director Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) is attached to direct the Buffy reboot pilot.
Cannes says no to the nip slip
The Cannes Film Festival is underway in France, and while you might catch the next Best Picture winner, one thing you won’t see is an errant nipple.
Bella Hadid turned heads with a sheer broutfit at the 2024 Cannes premiere of The Apprentice. (Getty: Mustafa Yalcin)
This comes after the festival laid down some new laws over what is and isn’t acceptable on their red carpet, including any and all nudity, as well as “voluminous outfits … especially those with a large train that could hinder the proper flow of traffic”.
While a sheer dress has become the outfit du jour for the past few Cannes editions, officials have said they’re prepared to deny admission to any nearly nudes, with on-the-ground journalists already saying they’ve seen some red carpet turn-aways.
The rule against poofy dresses also impacted festival jury member Halle Berry, who revealed she had to swap her planned outfit for something more dress-code appropriate.Â
“I had an amazing dress by Gupta to wear tonight and I cannot wear it because the train’s too big,” Berry said at a news conference.
However, some attendees were flying closer to the Sun on opening night, with Heidi Klum stepping out in a mile-long (approx) floral Elie Saab number and Chinese actor Wan QianHui turning up in a multi-tiered Wang Feng gown.
Heidi Klum turned up the volume for her Cannes opening night fit, rules be damned. (Getty: Daniele Venturelli)
In better news, Cannes has also dropped their rumoured requirement that women wear heeled shoes on the red carpet, now allowing “elegant shoes without a heel”. The festival faced backlash in 2015 after certain attendees were turned away from the premiere of Carol for reportedly ditching the heels.
Jury president Juliette Binoche welcomed the change earlier in the week.
“I think it’s a very good idea, by experience,” she said.
The Cannes Film Festival will run until May 24.
Trailer of the Week: Superman
Even superhero haters had to bite their tongue this week as the first full trailer for James Gunn’s upcoming Superman was released. Miles away from the grey-saturated world seen in recent Superman offerings, the new trailer is being praised for actually resembling a live-action comic book *shock horror*.
