‘The Hurt Locker’ Producer Banned

In the scenario that “The Hurt Locker” wins best picture on the upcoming Oscars this Sunday, producer Nicolas Chartier won’t be able to get up on stage and receive the coveted award. Most likely, he might take it somewhere else other than the Kodak Theatre. As Steve Pond shares at TheWrap.com, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has come upon the decision to ban Chartier from attending the highly anticipated ceremony.

Chartier’s punishment is rooted back to a few days after he expressed regret for an email that made the rounds in mid-February. In the alleged letter circulating over the Internet, readers are urged to support the independently financed “Locker” for Best Picture Contender. Unlike other films in the category, apparently Chartier financed the Iraq war drama and also heads Voltage Pictures. However the next part of the email which specifically mentioned to favour “The Hurt Locker” and “not a 500M film” didn’t please the organizers of the event. Clearly, Chartier was referring to the “Avatar” and its domestic box office gross during the time the email first circulated.

Eventually Chartier released an apology for his “ignorance” and “stupidity” but he had to pay a price for his act. The AMPAS in a press release today had given their verdict that in “disparag[ing] one of the other contending films,” Chartier had committed an “ethical lapse.”

Pond shares on the website that the Academy might have considered removing Chartier’s film from the list of nominees but luckily for the other production crew members and the cast, no such action was taken. Their retrieval of Chartier’s ticket in no way affects other producers of “The Hurt Locker”, Greg Shapiro, Mark Boal also co-writer of the screenplay, and Kathryn Bigelow who’s highly favored for the Best Director category.