The Academy that hands out the Oscars has rescinded a nomination for tomorrow’s awards ceremony, because of a breach of campaigning rules.
Sound mixer Greg P Russell had been one of four technicians nominated for Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted, less than three days before Sunday’s awards ceremony, to remove him from contention, for calling some fellow members of the Academy’s Sound Branch during the nominations phase, to make them aware of his work on the film. The Academy says this is in direct violation of a campaign regulation that prohibits telephone lobbying, even if the call is in the guise of checking whether a screener has been received.
The Academy’s president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said, “The Academy takes very seriously the Oscars voting process and anything – no matter how well-intentioned – that may undermine the integrity of that process.”
His film, 13 Hours, remains in contention for the other three sound mixers, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J Haboush and Mac Ruth, against Arrival, Hacksaw Ridge, La La Land and Rogue One.
Russell is one of the most nominated film professionals never to have won an Oscar, having previously been nominated for 16 sound department Oscars, including for Skyfall, Salt, Apocalypto, three Transformers films, Spider-Man, Pearl Harbour, Armageddon and Con Air.