A dog named Messi, who became the breakout star of Anatomy of a Fall, is not expected to attend the 2024 Academy Awards.
The 7-year-old border collie, who played Snoop in Justine Triet’s Oscar-nominated drama, won’t be in Los Angeles for the Sunday, March 10, awards show, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Messi was the main attraction at the Oscar nominees lunch last month, with Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and more raving over the dog’s attendance.
“The big moment was with Billie Eilish, who bonded with Messi for almost 10 minutes,” Messi’s trainer and owner Laura Martin told THR of the event. “They were hugging and petting and they really had a vibe. Then Bradley Cooper bumped into him in the hallway. The dog went right to him, so they also had a connection.”
While plenty of A-listers and Oscar nominees were thrilled to be in Messi’s presence, other Academy insiders grew concerned about the pup’s charm. According to THR, “multiple companies with nominated films complained” about Messi attending the lunch out of fear that his presence might sway voting decisions in the film’s favor.
Anatomy of a Fall, which is nominated in five categories at Sunday’s ceremony including Best Picture, stars Sandra Hüller as a writer on a mission to prove her innocence in her husband’s demise. Messi’s heartwarming performance as the loyal sidekick to Hüller’s character left audiences in tears, winning him the Palm Dog award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
“All of this attention began at Cannes,” Martin told THR. “There were a few interviews in France, but what we’ve been experiencing here in America — with the attention to this dog and his acting — it’s beyond anything we anticipated. It’s probably the maximum that you can accomplish in this field.”
Triet’s vision for the film required a dog to play dead, a skill Messi already had in the bag.
“What we did need to work on throughout was how to be able to carry him and have him remain in this play acting of being inert,” Martin told Variety in February. “This was something I added over time by working every day. It started on the bed, and it was just how much disturbance was this dog going to be able to withstand whilst remaining limp.”
Martin told the outlet she was “a little bit scared” that Messi’s star performance would cause him to be “typecast in roles where he has to die,” adding, “These are the kind of roles we’re being asked to do now.”
Despite Messi’s absence from the Oscars on Sunday, the show must go on. The red carpet will be rolled out at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood to celebrate the most outstanding films released in 2023.
Oppenheimer leads the pack with an impressive 13 Oscar nominations, more than any other film this year. Poor Things closely follows with 11 nods, while Barbie garnered eight chances to win.
