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15 Fun Facts to Make You Sound Smarter at Your Oscar Party

by Kevin Polowy

They say the Oscars are the Super Bowl for film buffs. (OK, they also and maybe more commonly say "for women," and "for gay people," but we're going to go more inclusive here.)

Well, just like football, there is a wide swath of statistics movie nerds like ourselves excitedly discover, share, and possibly drool just a little bit over.

Here are 15 fun tidbits you could use to show you know your stuff on Sunday.

[Related: 2014 Oscar Predictions: Our Picks in Every Category]

1. Best Supporting Actress nominee Lupita Nyong'o is from the same ethnic tribe as President Obama's family. The breakout "12 Years a Slave" star was born in Mexico but raised in Kenya among the Luo peoples, which counted the commander-in-chief's father among its most prominent members.

2. "Gravity" would be the first sci-fi film ever to win Best Picture. That's kind of a big deal, considering films like "Star Wars," "2001: A Space Odyssey," "ET," "Alien," and "Avatar" could never crack that code. Of course, first it'd have to overcome the favorite that is "12 Years a Slave."

3. This is the second year in a row where a David O. Russell movie earned nominations in all four acting categories. That stat alone is pretty impressive, in regards to Russell actors Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, and Jennifer Lawrence all getting nods for "American Hustle" a year after Cooper, Lawrence, Robert De Niro, and Jackie Weaver landed nominations for "Silver Linings Playbook." How rare is this? Before "Playbook's" quartet of nods, the last time it had happened was in 1982 for the Warren Beatty drama "Reds."

4. Best Director history will likely be made. If the frontrunner Alfonso Cuarón prevails for "Gravity," it will make him the first Latino filmmaker ever to win the category. His main competition: Steve McQueen, who would be the first black winner for "12 Years a Slave." (As for "American Hustle's" David O. Russell… um, he'd be the first Best Director winner with a middle initial of O? We'll have to look into that.)

5. Leonardo DiCaprio based his performance in that Quaalude scene on a YouTube video. If you've never seen the viral video called "Drunkest Guy in the World," do yourself a favor and give it a view or five. Leo said he watched this trainwreck "on loop" when preparing to go all Gumby in "Wolf of Wall Street's" infamous drug-induced haze.

[Related: 6 Surprising Inspirations Behind This Year's Oscar-Nominated Performances]

6. At 23, Jennifer Lawrence is the youngest actor ever to have racked up three Oscar nominations. With nods in three of the four past years, for "Winter's Bone," "Silver Linings Playbook," and "American Hustle," at this rate she's well on her way to becoming the next Meryl Streep. (Or John Williams, but more on him later.)

7. There could be an EGOT winner! There could be an EGOT winner! Pay attention to the Best Original Song category. If that goes to "Let It Go," from the Disney smash "Frozen," as many pundits predict, it will make songwriter Robert Lopez the 11th (and youngest ever at 39) EGOT winner — though as Slate points out, like Whoopi Goldberg, his "E" was a Daytime E, if that's any less valuable to anyone out there.

8. A nomination was rescinded this year. If you're wondering why there are only four nominees in the Best Original Song category, it's because a fifth, the highly obscure, out-of-left-field nod that went to a song called "Alone Yet Not Alone" from the film of the same title, was voted off the ballot. The Academy decided that member (and former Academy governor) Bruce Boughton engaged in unethical behavior by urging his fellow voters to support "Alone." It's only the fifth time ever a nomination was revoked; the nomination itself, meanwhile, marked the very first time anyone had ever heard of "Alone Yet Not Alone."

[Related: Get Ready for Oscar Night With Our 2014 Awards Season Scorecard]

9. Barkhad Abdi is the year's unlikeliest Oscar nominee. The Somalia-born "Captain Phillips" star, up for Best Supporting Actor, was living in Minnesota working as a chauffeur with zero showbiz aspirations when he was plucked from obscurity to play the lead pirate opposite some guy named Tom Hanks. Runner-up: The makeup artist from "Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa."

10. They actually make those high-waisted pants from "Her" now. Yep, the film's costume designer Casey Storm has released a line of those unsightly trousers. We won't speculate as to whether or not that led to him being left off of the Oscars ballot list.

11. June Squibb could make Oscar history. If the 84-year-old pulls an upset in the Best Supporting Actress category (hey, it could happen), she'd be the oldest actress ever to win an Academy Award. She's probably also the oldest actress to ever to pull her skirt up in a cemetery on film.

12. There are husband-and wife-nominees this year. Screenwriter Terrence Winter is up for Best Adapted Screenplay for "The Wolf of Wall Street," while his wife, producer Rachel Winter, is a nominee in the Best Picture race for "Dallas Buyers Club." Odds are that neither will emerge victorious, but they're still clearly the coolest people on their block. (Unless June Squibb lives on their block.)

13. The real Jordan Belfort makes a cameo in the final scene of "The Wolf of Wall Street." He's the guy who introduces DiCaprio's Belfort moments before he uses a shtick as a motivational speaker in front of a conference roomful of New Zealanders.

14. John Williams is the Michael Jordan of Oscars. Meryl Streep may be the person most of us equate with Academy Award dominance (she's up for her record 18th acting nomination for "August: Osage Country"), but it's composer John Williams who OWNS the Oscars. He's up for his 49th (49th!) Academy Award for scoring the little-seen "Book Thief." Maybe after he gets his 50th, the "Star Wars" maestro will hang it up and let some other padawan composers have a chance. For those scoring at home, Williams has won five times.

15. "Miss Congeniality" was based on Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres. After first mentioning this in 2007, it made headlines again this week when Ellen told Parade Magazine that the writer of the popular 2000 comedy (starring "Gravity" nominee Sandra Bullock) saw Ellen attempting to "walk in a dress and heels" in preparation for a gig hosting the Emmys. Wonder what movie she'll inspire this time.

Tune in to Yahoo's live Oscars pre-show this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, and then watch the big show on ABC.

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