The blue eyes of the border collie with black and white hair caused a big sensation at the Oscar nominees’ luncheon on Monday February 12 in Los Angeles. In all humility, the dog took part in numerous selfie sessions with the elite of the cinema. Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and even Billie Eilish had the right to immortalize their moment with the animal.
Aged 7, Messi, his real name, plays the role of Snoop in Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet. Snoop is the guide dog of young Daniel, a visually impaired teenager whose father dies after months of heartbreak between his two parents. He is the first to discover the lifeless body of Samuel (Daniel’s father). Messi also had to simulate a lethargic state after swallowing sleeping pills in one of the scenes in the film. A scene that impressed Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone. A performance also noted by the authorities since Messi had the right to his moment of glory at the Cannes Film Festival by being awarded the Palm Dog, a prize awarded for 23 years to a dog to distinguish his performance in a Cannes Film Festival film. . “He had never had such an important role before Anatomy of a Fall,” Laura Martin Contini, his mistress, told BFMTV.
After this first success, “director Justine Triet was even surprised that the dog was better known in the United States than in France,” reports France Info. But this popularity is not to everyone’s taste. Some members of competing film crews didn’t like seeing the animal getting all the attention. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “several companies with nominated films complained to the Academy that allowing it to attend the event gave Anatomy of a Fall an advantage during the voting window.” Although the film crew did not indicate whether or not they wanted to bring him to the ceremony, the American media claims that the animal should not attend anyway due to these complaints.
However, this Saturday March 9, the day before the Oscars, Jehnny Beth (actress in the film) seems to have posted then deleted a photo on Instagram with the dog, just before boarding the plane for Los Angeles. Enough to stir up speculation a little more.
In 2012, Uggie, the dog who starred alongside Jean Dujardin in The Artist, was on stage during the photo shoot. The regulations do not include any mention of the validity or otherwise of the presence of actor dogs at the ceremony.