Howard hits back at Mind 'smear'

Russell Crowe portrays mathematician John Nash

The makers of A Beautiful Mind have said they suspect a whispering campaign against the film has been behind recent negative stories in the press about it.

Although rival film studios have denied involvement in the alleged smear campaign, director Ron Howard and Universal Pictures both suspect some elements of the industry may attempted to discredit the film.

Winning an Oscar can boost a movie's revenue enormously, and competition between rival studios is fierce.

The movie, based on the life of schizophrenic Nobel Prize-winner John Nash, has been nominated for eight Oscars, including best director, actor and film.

Howard: "Undermining the other candidate's credibility is tragic"

But recent weeks have seen a spate of stories discrediting how realistic A Beautiful Mind is.

Many reports implied allegations that Nash was anti-Semitic and homosexual were left out of the film.

"If there's an attack strategy, that's an impolitic tool," Howard said.

"It's not about reminding people of your virtues; it's about undermining the other candidate's credibility. That's a shame, that's tragic."

Russell Crowe, who plays the lead role, said he believes the amount of money at stake can lead to some questionable campaigning.

'Calculated'

"As soon as they toss that much money, that takes people to a different place," he said.

"And this is supposed to be about the joy of filmmaking."

Stacey Snider, the chairwoman of Universal Pictures, one of the film's distributors, told The Hollywood Reporter: "The timing of this latest wave of missives and their orchestration has to be calculated."

But competing studios have denied involvement in the alleged smear campaign, and no evidence of such a campaign has emerged.

'Strange ideas'

Nash and his wife denied he was gay or was anti-Semitic in a recent interview with CBS.

He said his anti-Jewish remarks were made while he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

"I did have strange ideas during certain periods of time," said Nash.

"It's really my subconscious talking. It was really that. I know that now."

Other details of Nash's life not included in the movie are the son he fathered before he married Alicia and the fact that the couple divorced and remarried.

'False details'

Reports had wrongly alleged Nash's son was born while he was married.

Sylvia Nasar, author of the 1998 biography A Beautiful Mind, also wrote an article accusing media outlets of giving false details about Nash.

She said there was no truth in rumours he was a homosexual.

'Dramatic licence'

The film, which stars Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly, documents Nash's life as he struggles for decades with mental illness.

He finally overcame schizophrenia to win the Nobel Prize for economics in 1994.

Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman said they had used dramatic licence when making the film, dropping less interesting aspects of Nash's life.

The Oscars ceremony will be broadcast live on BBC Two on Monday 25 March from 0045-0500 GMT and reported live on BBC News Online.