Is it time to give Oscars to dogs? Why Hollywood's cute canines are ready for their moment
Just call him the next Al Pawcino or Spaniel Day-Lewis.
Messi, a 7-year-old border collie, has bow-wowed critics and audiences with his stirring performance as Snoop in the Oscar-nominated “Anatomy of a Fall”: sitting, speaking and playing dead better than most A-listers. The blue-eyed scene-stealer joins a long list of four-legged thespians who have woofed their way into best picture nominees, from Toto the terrier in “The Wizard of Oz” to Brandy the pit bull in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."
With so many awards-worthy animals, it begs the question: Is it time the Academy rolled over and gave these dogs a bone?
“Why not?” says Laura Martin Contini, Messi’s owner and trainer. “It does take a lot of work to accomplish what looks natural on screen.” An Oscar “would bring attention to the profession itself.”
Animal actors (and their trainers) work like dogs for movie roles
In the dog-eat-dog world of Tinseltown, canine actors deserve more than a mere ear rub. Behind every time-traveling sheepdog (“Back to the Future”), hoop-shooting retriever (“Air Bud”) and fashion-forward chihuahua ("Legally Blonde"), there’s someone who spent countless hours to get them camera-ready.
“What people don't realize is the time we take to train our dogs,” says Joel Silverman, a celebrity dog trainer whose credits include “Twister” and “Steel Magnolias." Many trainers own their canines, meaning "we put in years. And that's stuff we're not paid for ‒ these animals are our lives. For many of us, these dogs sleep in our beds. They go to work with us and they're a team member."
Coaxing out a truly great dog performance isn't as simple as just feeding them treats. Just ask Ukai, the scruffy star of “Arthur the King” (in theaters March 15), which tells the true story of an endurance racer (Mark Wahlberg) who befriends a stray dog during a rigorous trek through the Dominican Republic.
“Getting a dog to stand still looking sad in the rain is really hard. He's going, ‘Wait a minute: Why aren't I under that tent with a warm plate of meatballs?’ " recalls director Simon Cellan Jones. Despite "extensive" training, Jones says there's a soulfulness to Ukai that you can't manufacture: "The dog was just brilliant, the way his emotions came through and his sense of timing."
Could the Academy unleash a canine category? Don't hold your breath
Honoring memorable mutts and their trainers isn’t unprecedented: Last year, Messi won the prestigious Palm Dog Award at France’s Cannes Film Festival, which has previously gone to the fetching breakout stars of “Inglorious Basterds” and “Marie Antoinette.” For decades, the American Humane Association hosted the annual PATSY Awards, recognizing iconic canines in “Old Yeller,” “The Shaggy Dog” and TV’s “Lassie.”
According to Susan Orlean's 2011 book "Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend," Rinty received the most best actor votes during the Oscars' first year, but Academy members worried it would delegitimize the awards − a legend that Bruce Davis, the Academy's former executive director, flatly denies. Still, there appears to be nothing in the Academy's eligibility rules about whether animals can be nominated.
But it’s unlikely the Oscars will ever let these dogs have their day. After all, it took years for the Academy’s casting branch to successfully campaign for their own category, which will go into effect in 2026. Stunt teams and motion-capture performers are still waiting to get their due.
"If that happened before those other categories, I don't know how they'd be able to escape a certain amount of backlash," says Erik Anderson, editor-in-chief of Oscar prediction site AwardsWatch. “I don't think you can really have the creation of a new Oscar category if you don't have a full branch in support of it.”
That said, Anderson suggests there is a world where the Academy introduces a fan-voted category for best animal actors, similar to the short-lived “awards” for “Oscars cheer moment” and “fan favorite” in 2022: "It could be fun for the Oscars to do something like this in an audience participation kind of way.”
'Anatomy of a Fall' star Messi hopes to sniff out the competition at Sunday's Oscars
Messi still walked away a winner this awards season, after working for tennis balls and cuddles on the set of "Anatomy," a twisty thriller about a woman (Sandra Hüller) accused of murdering her husband. The pooch keeps his Palm Dog collar mounted on the wall and is "jetlagged" and dozing through our interview after a tail-wagging promotional tour. Like Uggie from “The Artist”, he was a hit on the campaign trail, drawing crowds for photo ops at last month's Oscar nominees luncheon in Los Angeles.
“He had some really nice moments with Billie Eilish and Bradley Cooper,” Contini recalls. “What he doesn't perceive is how famous the people petting him were.”
She's still unsure whether Messi will attend Sunday’s Oscar ceremony (airing 7 p.m. EDT/4 PT on ABC).
"He does want to go. He told me that," Contini says with a grin. If not, "he'll be sitting in front of the television. He’s earned a bit of rest and relaxation.”