When Grindhouse was released, there were accusations that Quentin Tarantino had lifted the premise from a small indie film. By the evidence there didn’t seem much to take seriously. However this week some major press is being made accusing Judd Apatow of lifting the concept of “Knocked Up” from well known Canadian journalist Rebecca Eckler, who wrote a memoir called “Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother-to-be”, released months before Apatow made his movie pitch. Eckler has enough credibility to make some noise here, and there are indeed similarities – a young journalist who had too much to drink only to be impregnated by a Jewish Canadian, aided by her sister. The Toronto Star has a piece today, and this week Canadians’ favorite waiting room time killer Maclean’s has this extensive piece by Eckler herself detailing her full rationale for believing “Knocked Up” was well, knocked off. Personally, I would think Apatow would be smarter than blatantly ripping off a story, especially with the same title – and the tale is simple and universal enough (and really, from the slacker male point of view – of a Jewish Canadian actor who has always gone out of his way to make this part of his character in every Apatow production he’s been a part of) that I would have a hard time seeing this hold up in court. Take a look at the article and judge for yourself.
UPDATE – I’ve discovered this blog keeping close tabs on this story.