niche drama

The Academy Strips 13 Hours Sound Mixer of Nomination Due to Taboo Telephone Lobbying

Photo: Paramount Pictures

The Academy’s Board of Governors has chosen to formally rescind a nomination in this year’s Sound Mixing category after discovering that one of the nominees, Greg P. Russell, violated an Academy campaign regulation. Russell, a prominent figure in the sound community who was nominated for the drama 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, was discovered to have “called his fellow members of the Sound Branch during the nominations phase to make them aware of his work on the film,” which, according to Deadline, directly violates the regulation that bans anyone from telephone lobbying in support of their respective films. (Specifically, “contacting Academy members by telephone to promote a film or achievement is expressly forbidden, even if such contact is in the guise of checking to make sure a screener or other mailing was received.”) 13 Hours will still be competing in the category, though — four sound mixers worked on the film in total, so only Russell’s name will be removed from the nomination. Russell had previously been nominated for an Oscar 16 times for his work in sound engineering. He never won.

Academy Strips 13 Hours’ Sound Mixer of Nom Due to Lobbying