Days before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces its Oscars winners, nine time nominee The Hurt Locker has been receiving a lot of attention but for the wrong reasons.  Master Sergeant Jeffrey S. Sarver, who serves as soldier in Iraq, is set to take legal action against 'The Hurt Locker' filmmakers for cheating him 'out of financial participation in the film'.  Master Sergeant Jeffrey S. Sarver's multi-million dollar federal lawsuit claims the movie depicts his own experiences as the leader of an explosives disposal unit.

Apparently, screenwriter Mark Boal was allowed to travel with Sarver's unit in Iraq as part of an armed services press program. Sarver's attorney Geoffrey Fieger explains in a statement, "Virtually all of the situations portrayed in the film were, in fact, occurrences involving Master Sgt. Sarver that were observed and documented by screenwriter Boal."

Yet, Summit Entertainment claims that the film is completely fictional by Mark Boal.  Funny, since Mark Boel was observing soldiers in Iraq.  Summit released a statement asserting "The film is a story about heroes depicting a fictional account of what brave men and women do on the battlefield. We have no doubt that Master Sgt. Sarver served his country with honor and commitment, risking his life for a greater good, but we distributed the film based on a fictional screenplay written by Mark Boal. We hope for a quick resolution to the claims made by Master Sgt. Sarver." 

Earlier in the week, The Hurt Locker narrowly missed having its Best Picture Nomination rescinded.  Instead they decided to pull Producer Nicolas Chartier's invitation.  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made the decision because of an e-mail that has been deemed in violation of the Academy's campaigning standards.  According to the Los Angeles Times, Chartier's e-mail asked the message recipients to spread the word about the Iraq war movie so that the independent feature would win, "and not a $500M film," which many have interpreted as a slight against James Cameron's box-office blockbuster "Avatar."