Nicolas Chartier | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Occupation | Film producer |
| Awards | Academy Award for Best Picture (2010) BAFTA Award for Best Film (2010) |
| Website | voltagepictures |
Nicolas Chartier (French:[nikɔlaʃaʁtje]) is aFrench film producer. In 2005, he foundedVoltage Pictures, a film production and distribution company based inLos Angeles. He is its CEO.
During his time as aDisneyland Paris janitor, Chartier sold his first screenplay which allowed him to buy a one-way ticket to Los Angeles. In order to scrape together a living, he wrotesoftcore porn forcable television.[1] He then held various executive level roles in both sales and acquisitions. He championed the sale of filmMy Big Fat Greek Wedding andAcademy Award-winning filmCrash directed byPaul Haggis, aCanadian screenwriter and director.[2] Chartier founded Voltage Pictures, where his breakthrough film,The Hurt Locker, allowed him to produce other successful films.
The Hurt Locker was Voltage's first in-house production and won six Academy Awards in 2009, including Best Picture.Killer Joe was Voltage's second production, directed byWilliam Friedkin and starringMatthew McConaughey. In 2013, Chartier executive producedDallas Buyers Club, for which Matthew McConaughey won the Academy Award for Best Actor andJared Leto for Best Supporting Actor. Chartier also producedThe Company You Keep, directed byRobert Redford and starring Redford andShia LaBeouf;The Zero Theorem directed byTerry Gilliam, starringChristoph Waltz;Don Jon, directed byJoseph Gordon-Levitt, starringScarlett Johansson andJulianne Moore;Good Kill, directed byAndrew Niccol, starringEthan Hawke;Fathers and Daughters, starringRussell Crowe,Amanda Seyfried, andAaron Paul;I.T. directed byJohn Moore starringPierce Brosnan, and was an executive producer onA Tale of Love and Darkness, starring, written, and directed byNatalie Portman and was an official selection at the2015 Cannes Film Festival.[2]
Other movies includeI Feel Pretty starringAmy Schumer andMichelle Williams, which grossed nearly $100 million worldwide;Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile starringZac Efron andLily Collins, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film festival;After starringJosephine Langford andHero Fiennes Tiffin and based on the worldwide best-seller fromAnna Todd; andAva starringJessica Chastain,Colin Farrell,John Malkovich,Common, andGeena Davis.[2] Previous films produced by Chartier includeColossal written and directed byNacho Vigalondo starringAnne Hathaway andJason Sudeikis, andA Family Man directed byMark Williams starringGerard Butler which both premiered at the2016 Toronto International Film Festival. He was also executive producer onTaylor Sheridan’s directorial debutWind River, starringJeremy Renner andElizabeth Olsen, which premiered to rave reviews at the2017 Sundance Film Festival taking in over $44 million in worldwide box office.[2]
Chartier is best known for his work in financingThe Hurt Locker, directed byKathryn Bigelow and starringJeremy Renner. The film won many awards including an Academy Award.[3] In 2006,The Hurt Locker script was circulated byCreative Artists Agency to foreign sales companies in the hopes of getting picked up and financed. Chartier, the owner of Voltage Pictures, called CAA to speak more in detail about the film as well as wanting to help produce it. The ask was for him to pay $20 million and Chartier pointed out that was too high of a budget. AnIraqi war drama with no notable stars attached, would be unlikely to receive any reasonable funding from skeptical foreign buyers.[1] The budget was inevitably lowered by 35% to $13 million. In order to acquire proof of finance for a production loan, he managed to put together 25-30% of pre-sale loans from various territories including the EU, Asia, and even airline companies. Unable to get the bulk of the production loan in time before pre-production, Chartier put in his own money in order to finance the bulk of the film, going as far as mortgaging his own home. In all, the overall budget forThe Hurt Locker was $15 million. The film generated $49.2 million at the box office.[4]
Before the Oscars, the Academy banned Chartier from the ceremony for sending out a mass email to voters to try to convince them to vote for the film rather thanJames Cameron'sAvatar.[5] In response, Chartier threw his own private party.[6]Jeff Steele (CFO of Magnet Media Group) wrote about Chartier onThe Warp, a blog, "I would say that anybody who can cobble together the financing from pre-sales, gap, bridge, tax credits and equity funding to produce a theatrical feature worthy of consideration for Best Picture is already a winner in my book."[4]
