Oscar Scandal

Last week Pete Hammond of the Los Angeles Times broke a story about The Hurt Locker: seems Nicolas Chartier, a little known producer on the film, sent an email around to a sizable Hollywood mailing list, trying to scare up Best Picture votes and getting a little snarky about his indy film’s big box office competitor. The Academy didn’t care much for that (according to their website, Academy rules prohibit “casting a negative or derogatory light on a competing film”) so today they slapped Mr. Chartier real hard on the wrist and told him he wasn’t allowed to come to the big party at the Kodak on Sunday.

Now this might seem like a blip on the Oscar season radar, but it’s a little more dramatic than that: in all its history, the Academy has never barred someone from the Awards ceremony because of bad behavior. If nothing else, it makes for some pretty damning press. Tireless Oscar prognosticators are considering whether Chartier’s indiscretion will cost Hurt Locker the big prize, but that seems like a stretch to me, since no one knew who Chartier was before he sent around his emails and all the big names on the picture immediately disavowed his actions. Also when the story broke it was late in the game: the deadline to vote was less than a week away and a big chunk of ballots were already in. There is a rumor that some Academy members have demanded their ballots back, so they can change their choices but, c’mon people, this is America. We vote all the time and we all know the rules. There’s no takebacks.

I feel a little sorry for old Nicholas Chartier. Sure he’s a bull in the Hollywood china shop, but he put up most of the money for Hurt Locker; without him the movie wouldn’t have gotten made. And now, by all accounts, his colleagues on the film are looking the other way when they see him on the street. Tough times in Tinsel Town.

So what do you think? Did Nicholas Chartier step over the line so far that he deserves to miss the show?