Oscars get ready to grant gold

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(CNN) -- Like a potential hit movie, the 79th Academy Awards come equipped with any number of promising storylines. There's a strong possibility that three African-Americans -- Forest Whitaker, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson -- could win Oscars for acting, an event unprecedented in Oscar history. Two men who have never won the big one -- actor Peter O'Toole and director Martin Scorsese -- have another shot, after seven and five losses, respectively. But both nominees face strong competition: O'Toole from Whitaker, who's won every major award in sight for his performance as Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland," and Scorsese from his late-career bete noire, Clint Eastwood, who beat him two years ago and goes up against him this year having directed two critical favorites (though he's only nominated for one, "Letters From Iwo Jima"). And, perhaps most intriguingly, the best picture race is wide open. (Who do you think is going to win? Play CNN's Inside the Envelope gameexternal link) Though "Babel" has won a number of early awards, the best picture winner usually has the best director, which gives Scorsese's "The Departed" an edge. And coming up on the outside is the little film that could, the audience favorite "Little Miss Sunshine," which shocked many observers by winning the Producers Guild honor for best picture a few weeks ago -- yet another of the tea leaves Oscar experts attempt to read when making their prognostications. Not that "Sunshine's" husband-and-wife directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, are having any of it."We're trying to avoid getting wrapped up in that drama," Dayton told the BBC. "The irony is the film is a repudiation of contests, so we feel a little hypocritical getting too caught up ourselves."Still, the pair told CNN, it is nice."The Academy Awards are such an institution," Dayton said. "We're very honored to be a part of it." (Full story) International flavor"Sunshine," because of its broad-based popularity, may be one of the few nominees to draw attention to this year's awards show, which has been overshadowed in the entertainment press this year by the ongoing dramas surrounding Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears. That's important to Oscar broadcaster ABC, which is hoping for big ratings for what's been called "the Super Bowl for women," because of extremely high numbers of female viewers (and advertisers' bids to appeal to them). Indeed, only one of the best picture nominees -- Scorsese's "The Departed" -- has passed the $100 million mark at the box office. Two others, "Iwo Jima" and "Babel," have made less than $50 million between them. Another crowd-pleaser, the musical "Dreamgirls," received eight nominations but was shut out of the best picture race, which may turn off some viewers. However, "Babel" points up another trend: The Oscars -- like the movie business -- aren't just for America anymore. Movie critic Pete Hammond of Maxim told awards Web site TheEnvelope.com that he's betting on "Babel," a film that ranges around the world with its interlocking stories, because it appeals "to people's social sense and it has a little more (depth) to it. And it's an international picture, which is what the business has become -- worldwide.""Babel's" acting nominees, Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi, are from Mexico and Japan, respectively; a third star, Cate Blanchett, who's up for her performance in "Notes on a Scandal," is from Australia. Other Oscar nominees hail from Spain (Penelope Cruz, "Volver"), Benin (Djimon Hounsou, "Blood Diamond") and, of course, Great Britain (Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"; Kate Winslet, "Little Children"; Helen Mirren, "The Queen," to name three). One particularly notable American featured in an Oscar-nominated film is former vice president Al Gore, the star of the global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." Gore, however, isn't a nominee himself; that honor went to the director, Davis Guggenheim. Undoing the locks Another concern ABC and the Academy may have is the seeming lack of drama in most of the major categories. Whitaker, Mirren, Hudson and Murphy have won most the major awards leading up to the Oscars, giving their races a preordained feeling. However, Oscar can be full of surprises, as TheEnvelope.com's Tom O'Neil -- perhaps trying to stir up some interest -- noted on the site. In making a best actor case for Peter O'Toole, the sentimental favorite, O'Neil noted that "many times in the past we've seen one actor sweep all of the early awards, then lose on Oscar night to a veteran. 'Mona Lisa' star Bob Hoskins' early romp derailed by Paul Newman's Oscar win for 'The Color of Money' comes to mind. So does the thrashing Jessica Tandy ('Driving Miss Daisy') gave to Michelle Pfeiffer ('The Fabulous Baker Boys'). Peter O'Toole will prevail this Sunday night because he rallied exactly at the right time."There's also a movement for Leonardo DiCaprio, O'Neil writes. Even though he was nominated for "Blood Diamond" -- considered the lesser of two DiCaprio performances -- Oscar voters are taking his other turn, in "The Departed," into account, O'Neil says. Scorsese, also considered a strong front-runner, may be facing some late competition from Eastwood. But Eastwood, for one, doesn't like the idea of Oscars as a race."I really don't like that, and I don't think Marty does -- and don't think any of the other nominees do, because it's not fair to the other nominees who have done good work -- to have people pitting the two senior guys. Whoever delivers the goods, they'd like to win on delivering the goods," Eastwood told The Associated Press. "When you make a sporting event out of it, it really shouldn't be like that."Mirren may be the closest thing to a lock this year. She's been such a popular choice that the British bookmaker William Hill has decided not to take any more bets on the star and decided to pay out $100,000 to those who have already bet on her, according to The Wall Street Journal. And if she loses?"Should the unimaginable occur and Dame Helen fails to win the Oscar, then she will have been robbed and so will we," said a spokesman. The 79th Academy Awards will air from Hollywood's Kodak Theater at 8 p.m. ET Sunday. Ellen DeGeneres is hosting the show, which will air on ABC.