Messi, star of the Oscar-winning movie Anatomy of a Fallwho won the top prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, will return next week as a red carpet “interviewer”.
With a special 360° microphone and camera on his back, this Scottish sheepdog will conduct interviews with stars thanks to an actor behind the scenes.
“He is the star. I’m just lending my voice to him,” said comedian Raphael Mezrahi.
The short interviews will be available on French TV channels and TikTok.
Messi received worldwide attention for his role in Anatomy of a Fall, and won the Palm Dog prize for best canine performance at the Cannes festival. After that, social media platforms were buzzing when he was photographed with red carpet stars such as Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Billie Eilish.
And this dog has acting properly mastered: in one of the scenes Anatomy of a Fall he had to pretend to be intoxicated and even vomit.
It took two months of preparation, said Laura Martin, his trainer and owner. Among other things, Messi had to learn to position his neck strangely and “to be carried with his body very limp” to appear unconscious.
Fake vomit came from a tube placed under his mouth. “He didn’t like it at all,” says Martin.
But Messi certainly had fun during AFP’s recent visit to his home.
In exchange for pieces of sausage, he sat in different positions: paw on nose, dead silent, or barking at the camera. And all this while recording messages for stars such as Emma Stone, who is in Cannes in her new movie, Kinds of Kindnesswill be.
“People told me it would be better if Messi rested in his garden now.
“But he knows the garden by heart. He loves people, he likes to be involved,” Martin said.
Martin was a dog trainer and ended up in the film world by chance. She also never could have dreamed that things would “go this far”.
Messi, who was named after the footballer by one of Martin’s children, has been turned down for roles in the past because he is supposedly “too pretty” and takes up too much space.
There is another actor’s dog in the apartment: Renard, a tiny “Prague Ratter”, who together with Jean Dujardin (The Artist) in French comedy Presidents appeared.
However, Messi remains the star and Martin dropped that he has been offered a role in an American script since his appearance at the Oscars – although she did not want to reveal anything further.
Ryan Gosling’s face lighting up after he sees Messi, the dog from Anatomy of a Fall, clapping on the big screen at the Oscarspic.twitter.com/YRGjhsRSCc
— মান হান Sanatani ???????? ???????? (@DesiSanatani) May 2, 2024
