Why play coy about it in the headline? We all know who this year’s actual best actor is: Messi, the dog from 2024 Best Picture nominee Anatomy of a Fall. Unfortunately, cinema’s foremost very good boy will not be appearing at the Oscars this Sunday.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Messi’s recent appearance at a luncheon for Oscar nominees was a special, one-time deal, and he won’t be flying in from France—where he lives with his trainer and human mom, Laura Martin—for the awards telecast. THR also notes that “multiple” studios behind rival Best Picture contenders “complained to the Academy that allowing [Messi] to attend the event gave Anatomy of a Fall an advantage during the voting window.” I’d really love to know which studio reps were so threatened by a border collie that they WHINED to the Academy about him.
You know what? They should feel threatened. Messi gave the performance of 2024. I have never once in my life seen a human give a performance that convincing, not even Charlize Theron in Monster (we know what’s going on under that makeup, lady). Messi’s portrayal of Snoop, a dog that gets poisoned by aspirin and almost DIES, is so realistic that I thought these people should be investigated for animal crimes.
When Messi stopped by the Oscar nominees luncheon, he was unsurprisingly the most popular guest. Ryan Gosling is a fan. Martin told THR that Billie Eilish spent a whole 10 minutes “hugging and petting” Messi, and that the pair “really had a vibe.” The outlet also has a great video that recaps Messi’s role in Anatomy of a Fall and includes Martin demonstrating how she got that remarkable performance out of him:
(featured image: Neon)
