A Hurt Locker producer’s e-mail Oscar campaign has blown up in his face. After sending out a mass e-mail to colleagues and friends urging them to actively promote his movie for the best picture prize, Locker co-producer Nicolas Chartier has just sent a follow up apology e-mail, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Gold Derby blog.
In his initial e-mail, Chartier contrasted his film with the behemoth (and Locker’s main competitor) Avatar:
“If everyone tells one or two of their friends, we will win and not a $500M film, 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!â€
In his follow-up, he referred to his initial e-mail as “extremely inappropriate,†writing that his “naivete, ignorance of the rules and plain stupidity as a first-time nominee is not an excuse for this behavior and I strongly regret it.†There has been no word yet from the Academy regarding Chartier’s e-mails; Academy rules state that any promotional e-mails sent out “may not extol the merits of a film.â€
Who would have thought that someone in this race would go too far in promoting their movie… and it wouldn’t be James Cameron?
’Hurt Locker’ producer apologizes for his ‘extremely inappropriate’ e-mail [Gold Derby/LA Times]