The statuette does not exist.
But if it were necessary to award the Oscar for best extra at the 96th Academy Awards ceremony which was held on the night of Sunday to Monday in Los Angeles (United States), it would undoubtedly go to... Messi, the dog in the casting of “Anatomy of a Fall”, the marital thriller by Frenchwoman Justine Triet, nominated five times and left with the prize for best original screenplay.
Present in the audience, seated quietly in the middle of a glittering cast of stars, the border collie was cited by presenter Jimmy Kimmel in his inaugural speech, thus becoming for a moment the most publicized animal in the world.
“Even though he’s a dog, he may have given us the performance of the year in
Anatomy of a Fall
,” began the American comedian.
Before placing his punchline: “He has an overdose scene
(in the film)
, if you saw it, it’s incredible: I had never seen a French actor eat his vomit like that since Gérard Depardieu”.
Messi, the star of Anatomy of a Fall, attends the Ceremony 🐶 #Oscars2024 pic.twitter.com/ucCXN1HCM8
— CANAL+ (@canalplus) March 10, 2024
The famous American master of ceremonies had already posted a video on his Instagram account, a few hours before going on stage, alongside the tricolor dog, definitely the darling of Hollywood stars.
On February 12, the light-eyed border collie who plays Snoop in Justine Triet's film had already been the sensation of the Oscar nominees' luncheon, attracting personalities like "Barbie" actor Ryan Gosling and musician Billie Eilish.
He applauds Robert Downey Jr
During the ceremony this Sunday, numerous cutaways highlighted the telegenius of the French canine wearing an improbable bow tie with the most beautiful effect.
He was often filmed in close-up, alongside his trainer Laura.
The height of chic: Messi... applauded in front of the camera with his paws, the victory of Robert Downey Jr, crowned best actor in a supporting role for “Oppenheimer”.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the presence of advertisements for dog pies, in the long advertising tunnels dotting the ceremony, caused a lot of laughter from the local public.
It was just a matter of time for the French animal to miss its new quarter of an hour of glory: accused of having, because of its “cuteness”, established a sort of unfair competition with respect to films named face “Anatomy of a Fall”, he almost lost his invitation card in the final straight.
According to the American press, teams from “adversarial” feature films would have raised the subject with the Oscar Academy... which therefore ignored these inappropriate grumbles coming from future sore losers.
Aged 7, Messi is living, like the film crew, a real fairy tale.
Already winner of the Palm Dog which recognizes the best canine performance at each Cannes festival, the border collie had until then never shone on the big screen.
“We call him
the misunderstood artist
, because he knows how to do lots of things, he is super efficient but every time he arrives at the end of a casting, we don't choose him (because of ) his eyes,” Laura Martin Contini, his trainer, confided to BFMTV.
Too good for the role
In “Anatomy of a Fall”, Messi is Snoop, the guide dog of a young visually impaired boy, attending the trial of his mother accused of having killed his father.
It is the canine who finds the victim's corpse and retains, throughout the film, a certain importance in the unfolding of the plot.
At the microphone of the France Inter show “Le Masque et la Plume” at the beginning of March, Justine Triet confided a little secret concerning the casting which led to the choice of Messi.
“When I saw the dog's face at the beginning, I didn't want him, because I found him too handsome,” the director said.
I wanted one that was a little ugly.
And so, I put it aside a little.
»
But it was his acting performances that landed Messi the role.
“We really cast the dog based on his gifts more than his appearance,” continued Justine Triet on France Inter.
And what made the difference was the alliance between him and his mistress who worked a lot.
We still asked him to play a dead dog, it's not easy.
» For the famous vomit scene, “there were a lot of special effects”, the filmmaker also noted.
Sunday evening, it shone without artifice.