Academy mulls penalties over Oscar advertisement

LOS ANGELES TIMES
HOLLYWOOD -- With less than a week to go to the Academy Awards, an Oscar advertisement promoting "House of Sand and Fog" is being denounced for breaching campaign protocol by implicitly asking people to vote against "Cold Mountain" co-star Renee Zellweger.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Monday it is considering a number of penalties against DreamWorks, which released "House of Sand and Fog" and purchased the advertisement in last Friday's trade newspaper Daily Variety. The academy's penalties could include steps as minor as canceling some of DreamWorks' Oscar-night tickets to as major as disqualifying one of the studio's films from awards eligibility.
The one-page DreamWorks advertisement was taken out to promote Iran's Shohreh Aghdashloo, nominated for best supporting actress for her performance opposite Ben Kingsley as his character's wife, Nadi, in "House of Sand and Fog." But unlike other Oscar ads, the ad specifically and repeatedly features mentions of Aghdashloo's main rival for the award, "Cold Mountain" co-star Zellweger.
In the advertisement
The DreamWorks advertisement includes excerpts from four newspaper, magazine and television reports that say that Zellweger "will win" but that Aghdashloo "should win." Every excerpt but one includes Zellweger's name.
"It's certainly a new and unwelcome step downward in campaigning," said Bruce Davis, the academy's executive director, who called it "an attack ad." He said he had spoken with several Oscar voters over the weekend who reacted to the ad "with varying degrees of surprise and amazement."
DreamWorks apologized for the advertisement, saying it was never intended as a criticism of either Zellweger or her film. "The ad was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened," said studio co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg. "In a year in which everyone has pledged to take a higher road, we made a very bad and ill-advised mistake."
The ad and its condemnation will probably have an insignificant impact on Oscar voting and on Aghdashloo's prospects, as most academy members already have submitted their ballots. Polling closes Tuesday at 5 p.m. The Oscars will be Sunday.