'Locker' producer barred from Oscars
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Nicolas Chartier, one of the four nominated producers of "The Hurt Locker", will have to stay away from the Kodak Theatre for Sunday's Oscar ceremonies.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday that, as a penalty for violating campaign rules, Chartier would be barred from attending the 82nd Academy Awards gala. Chartier violated Academy rules against campaigning directly to voters and disparaging the competition.
But AMPAS stopped short of stripping Chartier of his candidacy as a nominee for its top award and said that should "Locker" win, Chartier will receive the Oscar statuette - just not at the Kodak on Sunday.
The ruling came down late Monday from the executive committee of the Academy's producers branch, which found at a special session late Monday that the "ethical lapse" merited the revocation of Chartier's invitation.
Chartier began apologizing last week for having violated the campaign rules. The offending email, sent out Feb. 19, had urged Academy members to vote for "Locker" as he disparaged "Avatar".
"If everyone tells one or two of their friends, we will win and not a $500M film," he wrote without naming the Fox pic. "We need independent movies to win like the movies you and I do, so if you believe 'The Hurt Locker' is the best movie of 2010, help us!"
"The Hurt Locker", released by Summit, cost less than $20 million to produce. The other producers are director Kathryn Bigelow, screenwriter Mark Boal and Greg Shapiro.
Chartier's subsequent apology said that his email was "out of line and not in the spirit of the celebration of cinema."
He also said, "I was even more wrong, both personally and professionally, to ask for your help in encouraging others to vote for the film and to comment on another movie."
The Academy has strict campaign guidelines.
The rules state that a direct mailing to Oscar voters "may not extol the merits of a film, an achievement or an individual." The regs add that all forms of communication "casting a negative or derogatory light on a competing film or achievement are not permitted."
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