Apr 19 2009
Twilight & New Moon: Plagiarized?!
Fans of Twilight waiting anxiously for the release of the second movie in the series, New Moon, might want to sit down real quick. There is a rumor out of Hollywood this weekend that production on New Moon has come to a screeching halt. A complete one. The release of New Moon later on this year is in jeopardy.
A woman living in Utah, Heidi Stanton, has now made claims that Stephanie Meyer stole the idea for Twilight and the series from a short story she herself wrote when she was Meyer’s college roommate back in 1993. The woman says she has proof of this, and even a supporting witness in the form of a professor.
These claims have ended New Moon’s production as of right now. No official word of this from representatives of Meyer or from the set, but it does seem to be making the rounds this morning. Will keep an eye on this rumor for you. Check out this new footage from the set from ET. Entertainment Tonight plans to take a look at the behind the scenes of New Moon later this week.
Mrs. Stanton’s claims have some credence to them as she has documented proof that a short story with very similar idea was written by her in 1993 while she was a sophomore at BYU. English department chairperson Dr. Peter Benton was at the time a second year professor of writing and distinctly remembers Ms. Stanton’s prolific writing style and the vampire story in particular.
The story stood out in my mind, at the time, because it was more advanced than most sophomore students usually presented, also the vampire story stood out because I had recently taught a series of lectures on Brahm Stoker’s Dracula.” claims Dr. Benton. “I felt at the time that Heidi had brought a very current and up to date look at a classic subject.
If this is considered plagarism then Anne Rice better be worried too since she also writes about vampires. Seems to me the roommate is stating that Stephanie took the “idea” from her, not the actual writing, characters, story etc. How can that be considered plagerism? The original vampire stories that we know of date back to Bram Stoker - does that mean that no one else can write about vampires? That being said, sucks that she lied about how it “came to her in a dream”, and sucks for the roommate. If the idea WAS taken from her, it would make more sense for her to get a settlement rather than pulling the movies. Still, who’s to say the books would have been popular had the roommate written them…which she clearly wasn’t planning on doing since 16 years have passed.
I agree with Sarah, taking the idea and taking the actual words are 2 different things, and if this is true, why did it take the roommate so long to say something? ok true, it doesn’t look good for Stephanie Meyer either. But if the roommate did write the story, why did it take her so long to recognize her own work? Something smells funky on this, and if the roommate was smart she would just profit from it, instead of ruining it all
New Moon is still filming. Sorry to burst your Twilight drama bubble but it is. As well as Eclipse coming up very shortly and they are expecting word from Summit about Breaking Dawn’s production and release date in the next month. The accusations of plagiarism I can see, but New Moon IS still filming.
Before i read this i thought New Moon was gonna be canceled but its not so im so happy!!!But i do agree with Meghan…why did it take so long for Heidi to say something that just makes it weirder if it was like she wanted Stephanie Meyer’s fame from the books she wrote and Stephanie Meyer actually didn’t copy her…anyone can write Vampire books…but Stephanie still my favorite author and everyone still loves her IM SO HAPPY SHE MADE THIS BOOKS!!! Can’t wait till the rest of the movies!! YAY!! BIG TWILIGHT FANATIC!!! IM A TWILIGHTER!!! WHOO!!
Notice in this piece they only have the one quote mark - It seems that there is more fiction than fact in the accusation.
People need to check the facts before jumping on a bandwagon of conspiracy and wrong doing.
Every major author has been accused of plagiarism.
All it is is some pathetic loser who wants something for nothing. Tyler Perry faced the same thing a few months ago when someone accused him plagiarizing “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.”
Stephenie Meyer should sue this person for defamation of character, jsut to show this person anyone else who’s thinking of doing it to anyone else.
It is plagiarism, but not just from the short story, The Southern Vampire Mysteries was ripped off for this woman’s books. She literally combined the storylines of the 2 and just switched very few things at the last second so people too stupid to see it wouldn’t realize, I really hope Charlene Harris gets in on this lawsuit, because she definitely has more of a reason to be angry than anyone especially you teenie bopper twilight fanatics. It’s called using your brain and weighing the facts. Something most of the youth of America knows absolutely nothing about.
TWILIGHT IS PLAGIARISM AND SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN RELEASED IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!
Well IMO She palgarized off Southern vampire novels pretty much. The whole basic premise was stolen from there. The telepath, vampire immune to the telepath, shapeshifting freinds interested in the telepath etc etc. But then again its only the background. The story the plot is all hers (I hope). Southern vampire novels never got that famous twilight did. Thats cos of her talent and business acumen (by writing a soppy love story that teenage girls would gobble up compared to a complex novel, dealing in love, immortality and socila theologies). Plagarized or not people enjoy twilight. And Charlaine Harris has not yet complained either. So I guess if this short story line is real its the person who wrote its fault that she ddnt write twilight and not stephanie meyers who did. (Yet I do wish that she would give some credit to Charlain Harris the way she did to emily bronte and shakespear).
Okay this is FAKE. Heidi was never her roommate! And that “dr” is off a fucking tv show. Major BS. No movies have been cancelled. GO TO HER WEBSITE because she keeps up with major rumors.
Stop staring shit people!