This year’s awards season was brimming with A-list talent, but there was one standout star everyone was talking about: Messi the dog from Anatomy Of A Fall.
The blue-eyed border collie from the French legal drama starring Sandra Hüller and directed by Justine Triet has been a hit on the awards circuit, including with fans Ryan Gosling, Billie Eilish and Bradley Cooper.
But after delivering a scene stealing performance as Snoop in the now Oscar-winning film, fans were uncertain whether the talented canine would be allowed to attend the star-studded awards at all.
After a hit appearance at the annual nominees luncheon, apparently multiple companies with nominated films were concerned Messi’s attendance gave Anatomy of a Fall an advantage during the voting window, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
But despite efforts to exclude Messi from the celebrations, he was allowed to attend the Hollywood ceremony after all and showed the utmost respect to his fellow talent.
It turned out Messi got his own seat at the Los Angeles Dolby Theatre, and was filmed clapping his paws during the ceremony.
But there was a little magic behind the scenes, with an amazing new picture from the ceremony revealing that there was someone underneath the seats holding prop dog paws to give the illusion of a clapping Messi.
Another angle revealed a small portion of the audience filming a segment with Messi separately to the rest of the ceremony.
Once again, Ryan was absolutely delighted to see his new friend on the big screen.
Justine and her partner Arthur Harari went on to win the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for the film, which was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Editing.