Playing Dirty

Hurt Locker Producer Caught Bashing Avatar

Nicolas Chartier admits to sending emails badmouthing the competition.

The race between Avatar and The Hurt Locker is heating up—and it’s getting pretty nasty. According to Deadline Hollywood, Nicolas Chartier—a Hurt Locker producer who got caught sending out a mass email February 19 in which he bashed Avatar—has admitted to sending even more anti- Avatar emails to “personal acquaintances.” Chartier reportedly sent individual messages saying that the James Cameron movie (which is widely seen as Hurt Locker’s main competition for Best Picture) should be placed at the bottom of the heap of the nominees. When confronted by Summit, Chartier reportedly admitted sending the emails. The company has released a statement saying: “Summit and our consultants were completely unaware of any emails that were sent until we were alerted by the Academy earlier this week. Thus we also had no additional knowledge of different text that may have been sent by this producer.” The Daily Beast’s Nicole Laporte reports that Chartier will likely be docked tickets to the Oscar ceremony for his behavior.