Jean Dujardin, the hunky French actor who's up for an Oscar for The Artist, has found himself in the middle of a brouhaha.
Posters for his new film, Les Infideles, went up Tuesday in Paris but were being taken down Friday following a request from France's self-regulating advertising body, reports AP. They're thought to be too racy, suggesting adulterous oral sex.
In one poster, he stands between a pair of upside-down bare female legs, clutching them. In another, the back of a woman's head is waist high to actor Gilles Lellouche, who is on his cellphone.
"We could see that this campaign didn't respect (the rules) with the sexually explicit positions, the play on words ... the boundaries were crossed," said Stephane Martin, the head of the Authority of Professional Regulation of Advertising.
Some French newspapers have suggested the ads reflect negatively on Dujardin and his chances to win the Oscar. "America doesn't kid at all with these kind of dirty photos," Le Parisien wrote. Le Figaro suggested that those promoting rival actors might "play on the Puritanism" of the Academy's members to discredit Dujardin.
Dujardin declined to comment to AP.
JC Decaux, the outdoor advertising company that hung the posters, conceded they weren't in "good taste" and they would all be down by the end of the day.
They have been replaced by a third poster, where the male leads sit and laugh as two sexily clad women walk by.
