Over the past decade, there have been four occasions (including this year), in which there was discrepancy between the Best Director and the Best Picture Oscars.

In a major upset, and against all predictions, the Academy voted the mediocre message film Crash as Best Picture, while honoring Brokebcak Mountain with Best Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Original Score Awards.

ABC has sold all the spots for its March 5 Oscar telecast. The network continues to get strong showing from advertisers for its 48 spots within the three-hour plus telecast. ABC will receive about $1.7 million per 30-second commercial, up from the 1.6 million in last year's telecast.

When Mack Sennett found out that his nominated short, Wrestling Swordfish, had lost to Pete Smith's Swing High by only 3 votes on the final ballot, he called the Academy's attention to the book of rules, which stated that a 3-point difference was considered a tie vote.