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Academy Makes Oscar Credits Depart

Fri., Jan. 26, 2007 5:05 PM PST by Sarah Hall

Brad Grey doesn't have to worry about forgetting to thank someone during his acceptance speech at the Academy Awards.

In fact, he can forget about thanking everyone.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences put an end to the Paramount chief's Oscar dreams Friday by denying his petition for a producer credit on The Departed.

When the Academy announced the nominations for the 79th Academy Awards on Tuesday, the producing nominees for both The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine were listed as "to be determined," signifying that Oscar higher-ups had yet to make a final decision on awarding credit.

Grey lobbied the Academy for recognition after the Producers Guild of America singled out Graham King as the lone producer deserving of credit, despite the fact that Grey and Brad Pitt were also listed onscreen as producers.

However, the Academy has cracked down on the number of producers allowed to share credit for a Best Picture nominee in recent years in an effort to ensure that only the truly worthy share in Oscar glory. Under the new policy, Grey failed to make the grade.

Pitt apparently did not attempt to claim a stake in the Best Picture category, and his efforts on the Martin Scorsese crime drama will go similarly unrewarded, should the film win big at the Oscars.

Grey isn't the first producer to try and convince the Academy to change its mind. Bob Yari, one of the producers of last year's Best Picture winner, Crash, whose contribution to the film went unrecognized at the Oscars, sued both the Academy and the Producers Guild of America last March, claiming that he was unfairly denied credit.

Nor is Grey the only producer likely feeling a bit blue about the Academy's decision.

While five credited producers shared the Best Picture honor for Little Miss Sunshine at the PGA Awards last weekend, two of them were dropped from Oscar consideration.

Should the darkhorse contender pull off a Best Picture upset at the Academy Awards, the contributions of both Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa will go unacknowledged, leaving David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub to collect statuettes for their efforts.

Meanwhile, while Grey won't be recognized for his producing prowess, chances are good that he'll still have something to celebrate at the Academy Awards.

Paramount has a total of 18 nominations, including seven for Best Picture contender Babel and eight for non-Best Picture contender Dreamgirls.