The cousin of the screenwriter behind the blockbuster "Top Gun: Maverick" has launched a lawsuit against the filmmakers, charging that he significantly contributed key scenes and ideas to the movie without receiving the credit or compensation he deserved. Shaun Gray, a seasoned visual effects artist and a relative of the credited screenwriter Eric Singer, claims to have collaborated with Singer for an extensive period of five months, painstakingly working on numerous drafts of the screenplay. Throughout this collaborative endeavor, Gray meticulously maintained time-stamped files documenting his invaluable contributions.
The lawsuit, which was reviewed by Variety, asserts, "This legal action seeks justice for Gray, a talented screenwriter who was manipulated and exploited by influential figures in Hollywood. It demands accountability from the defendants who reaped immense profits by misappropriating Gray's creative work."
According to IMDb, Gray has a history of working with both Singer and "Maverick's" director, Joseph Kosinski. He served as an uncredited writing consultant on Kosinski's 2018 film "Only the Brave," co-written by Kosinski and Singer, and was credited as Singer's assistant on the 2009 thriller "The International."
J.J. "Yank" Cummings, a former Navy fighter pilot who advised on "Maverick," corroborated Gray's contributions in an interview with GQ in 2022. Cummings recounted, "In the early stages, it was me, Eric, and Shaun. We spent five consecutive days holed up in a hotel room in San Diego, meticulously going through the screenplay line by line. A month later, Eric, Shaun, and I spent another five days in Eric's Santa Monica office, with [Kosinski] joining us for the final two days to review our work. We certainly logged a lot of time together."
Gray is represented by Marc Toberoff, the same attorney who previously sued Paramount on behalf of Ehud Yonay, the journalist whose 1983 article inspired the original "Top Gun." In response, a Paramount spokesperson issued a statement saying, "This lawsuit, akin to the one previously filed by Mr. Toberoff to capitalize on the success of 'Top Gun: Maverick,' is entirely without merit. We are fully confident that a court will dismiss this claim as well."
