A producer behind Oscar-nominated movie THE HURT LOCKER has apologised for a leaked email in which he urged colleagues to campaign for votes ahead of the upcoming Academy Awards.
Nicolas Chartier sent out a message to industry colleagues on Friday (19Feb10) urging Academy members to vote for the gritty war movie in the Best Picture category before the ballot closes on 2 March (10).
He also appeared to criticise James Cameron's multi-million dollar blockbuster Avatar, which will compete for the coveted trophy at the ceremony on 7 March (10).
In the email, obtained by the Los Angeles Times, he wrote, "I hope you liked Hurt Locker and if you did and want us to win, please tell your friends who vote for the Oscars, if everyone tells one or two of their friends, we will win and not a $500 million film, we need independent movies to win."
The move appears to break the rules set by bosses at Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which restrict campaigning to garner votes - and Chartier has taken to his email again to apologise.
The second note reads, "My email to you was out of line and not in the spirit of the celebration of cinema that this acknowledgement is. I was even more wrong, both personally and professionally, to ask for your help in encouraging others to vote for the film and to comment on another movie. As passionate as I am about the film we made, this was an extremely inappropriate email to send, and something that the Academy strongly disapproves of in the rules. I truly apologise to anyone I have offended."