My Best Films

The producer at the centre of the negative-campaigning Oscar row will miss out on The Hurt Locker’s big night, after Academy executives banned him from Sunday’s ceremony.

Nicolas Chartier, who had issued an apology for his Avatar-bashing email campaign, will not be allowed to enter the Kodak Theatre after what the Academy have described as “an ethical lapse”.

The rest of the team behind The Hurt Locker have attempted to distance themselves from the Frenchman’s outburst, with fellow producer Mark Boal telling The Daily Beast, “Kathryn (Bigelow) was shocked and appalled and embarrassed by Nic’s poor judgement, and condemned it.”

“Everyone understands that Nic bears the responsibility for his mistake 100 percent on his own shoulders.”

This response is unsurprising given Chartier’s apparently troublesome presence during filming. “It was a hard movie to get made,” continued Boal. “It’s the nature of those things that tempers can flare…and Nic was eventually asked not to come back to the set."

With Oscar votes due in yesterday, Bigelow and co. will be hoping the bust-up won’t have tipped the scales towards an Avatar landslide.

Can The Hurt Locker survive the controversy and bag ‘Best Picture’? Leave a comment…
 

Total Film on Facebook