Accommodating the Academy's historic penchance for recognizing overall achievement with its awards -- think Paul Newman's win for The Colour of Money after a career of arguably superior performances -- makes this another tough one to call.

Martin Scorsese, who's widely considered to be the best director never to have won an Oscar, was a favourite to win with his sprawling Gangs of New York two years ago.

He left empty-handed that night, but hopes his fifth shot at Oscar glory, The Aviator, will take him soaring to the next level.

But if the Academy is working on the principle of recognizing career achievement, Million Dollar Baby might just deliver Clint Eastwood his due. By the same token, three-time Oscar nominee, Vera Drake director Mike Leigh is considered overdue for an Oscar to call his own. Look for him to benefit from Oscar's historical Anglophilia when the statues are handed out.

Sideways director Alexander Payne, who's no stranger to Oscar buzz with a screenwriting nomination for Election, may have to content himself with deferring the director's Oscar to one of the relative veterans in the category.

Expect him to find reason to celebrate, however, with a consolation prize in the best adapted screenplay category.

Ray director Taylor Hackford, on the other hand, will have to find consolation in the memory of his 1979 Oscar for the short film Teenage Father when the Academy passes over his tribute to blind bluesman Ray Charles.