The Aviator producer's Oscar snub

A producer of The Aviator credited with persuading Leonardo DiCaprio to play Howard Hughes has been ditched from the Oscar nominations because of over-crowding.

Charles Evans Jr, who claims the biopic of the eccentric maverick was his brainchild, has been dumped as a producer for the Best Picture award at this year's Academy Awards because of a limit imposed on the number of nominees.

Only two of The Aviator's four producers - Michael Mann and Graham King - are now in the running to receive a statuette.

Up to three producers can be nominated per film, but The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby failed to trim their credits so the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has had to be ruthless, and decided to axe both Evans Jr and Mann's former deputy Sandy Climan.

Evans Jr sued Mann in 2001 claiming he was excluded from the project after coming up with the original idea and convincing DiCaprio to take the lead role. The case was settled out of court and Evans was named as a producer.