Apple TV French series ‘The Hunt’ investigated, plagiarism allegations

Apple TV has removed the upcoming French thriller “The Hunt” (“Traqués”) from its December slate, and now we know why: creator and director Cédric Anger is accused of taking the series’ story from Douglas Fairbairn’s 1973 novel “Shoot,” which was previously adapted into the 1976 film “Shoot.”

According to Apple Insiderthat the news reported on Tuesday, were first surfaced by French media expert Clement Garin.

French producer Gaumont confirmed in a statement Tuesday that “The Hunt” has been suspended while it investigates the allegations. Apple TV has removed all material about the show from its site as the show is in limbo.

“The broadcast of our series ‘The Hunt’ has been temporarily postponed,” Gaumont said in a statement Variety. “We are currently conducting a thorough review to answer any questions regarding our production. We take intellectual property issues very seriously.”

“The Hunt” was originally set to make its worldwide debut on Apple TV on Wednesday, December 3, with the first two episodes, followed by one weekly episode every Wednesday through December 31. But Apple TV removed the series from its lineup last week.

Anger’s French-language thriller (“Next Time I’ll Aim for the Heart”) comes from executive producers Isabelle Degeorges, Clémentine Vaudaux, Alexis Barqueiro and Sidonie Dumas for Gaumont (“Lupin,” “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld,” “Totems”). Benoît Magimel and Mélanie Laurent play the leading roles.

“The Hunt” (“Traqués”) also stars Damien Bonnard, Manuel Guillot, Cédric Appietto, Angelyna Danabe Mignot, Paul Beaurepaire, Yann Goven, Sarah Pachoud and Patrick de Vallette.

Here’s the logline: “Franck (Magimel) and his old friends enjoy spending their weekends hunting together, but one Sunday they encounter another group of hunters who target them without explanation. When one of their party is shot, Franck’s friends strike back, sending an attacker to the ground. The four friends barely manage to escape and keep the event a secret. Franck, along with his wife Krystel (Laurent), try to live normally again, but in the coming days, he starts to feel that he and his friends are being watched, or worse, being followed by hunters who are now out for revenge.’

And here is the description of “Shoot” from Good read: “Rex is an uber-macho hunter who joins four equally testosterone-addicted friends on a hunt in the Canadian wilderness. But their weekend is cut short by a rival gang of hunters they encounter in the woods, one of whom inexplicably takes a potshot at Rex’s party and grazes the head of one of his friends. Another of Rex’s friends fires back and kills the shooter. From there, Rex and company run away and head back. Rex decides not to contact the authorities about the murder, assuming that the rival hunters will respond in kind. To confirm this, he looks up the identity of the murdered man and tracks down his widow. However, this does not entirely satisfy Rex, who becomes convinced that the dead man’s companions will come after him and his friends a small army and a veritable arsenal of firepower to back it up. The fateful day arrives. Rex and his mini-army, weapons at the ready, set out into the now snow-covered forest. Appearances can be deceiving, however, and before the day is over, a lot of weapons will be fired.’

Fairbairn was an author who died in 1997. The 1976 film ‘Shoot’, based on his novel, was directed by Harvey Hart and written by Richard Berg, starring Cliff Robertson, Ernest Borgnine and Henry Silva.