Backstory: From also-ran to Oscar in just a few letters

Humor: A last-minute title change might make 'Borax' and 'Tallahassee Nights.'

Sometimes the difference between an Academy Award-winning film and an also-ran can be just a few letters – close but no Oscar. With that in mind, less than two weeks before this year's Academy Award nominations are announced, some filmmakers were making last-minute changes to the title of their movies to enhance their chances:

• The Devil Wears Hush Puppies

• Borax

• The Leonardo Code

• The Deported

• Pirates of the Gulf of Mexico

• Apocalypto Now

• V for Velveteen Rabbit

• An Incandescent Truth

• Thank You for Smirking

• Tallahassee Nights

• A Prairie Home Compendium

• Dale Roberts, a college career counselor, lives in Asheville, N.C.