Harvey Weinstein's Miramax scored 40 Oscar nominations in 2003, thanks in part to heavy campaigning for the company's films. One ad quoted esteemed former Academy president Robert Wise (director of West Side Story and The Sound of Music) as endorsing Martin Scorsese for best director for Gangs of New York.

The endorsement came as a surprise to some Hollywood veterans -- chief among them former Academy president Robert Wise, who was quick to point out that he had not in fact written the column upon which the ad was based. Who had? A publicist -- working for Miramax.

[Several outraged Oscar voters demanded to have their ballots returned so that they could alter votes. The academy refused.]