Meet the producer the Academy Awards banned
You would not have seen him take the Oscar stage with best director Kathryn Bigelow but Nicolas Chartier did receive a shout-out from the platform and he did make his own acceptance speech of sorts.
Chartier, the now Academy Award winner for his production of The Hurt Locker, was just 20-years-old when he travelled from his Disneyland Paris janitor job to the bright lights of Hollywood. An American producer had accepted one of his scripts and urged the young man to head west. Finding little success initially as a producer Chartier began working as a scriptwriter for soft-core pornography on US cable networks.
Last night, sixteen years later, should have been his crowning glory, a stride onto the Oscars stage with fellow The Hurt Locker team members Mark Boal, Greg Shapiro and Kathryn Bigelow. However, Chartier was not even close to the building, being confined to watch the show via television at a Malibu party. The reason? Chartier lobbied the members of the Academy to boycott big-budget Hollywood flicks in favour of his movie. This is a clear breach of rules laid down by the academy which argues its independence is based on not responding or indeed allowing such propaganda.
The deeper reason may well be that Chartier is far from Hollywood blue-blood, having a shady past which also included roles as a salesman – a profession frowned upon by the LA elite. Widely regarded as a schlock merchant, Chartier has discovered that independent film-makers are in low regard in high places. He also alienated himself from his The Hurt Locker colleagues by begging to be added to the nomination after being ruled ineligible initially by the Academy.