Jimmy Kimmel Greets “Anatomy of a Fall” Dog Messi Seated in Oscars Audience: 'Performance of the Year'

The adorable dog was an awards season breakout star

Jimmy Kimmel used his Oscars monologue to give credit to one of this awards season’s breakout stars: Messi, the dog from Anatomy of a Fall.

During his opening to Sunday's show, Kimmel joked about the less exciting roles played by nominee Robert Downey Jr., who's up for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Oppenheimer. “He played the villain — and correct me if I’m wrong — a movie where Tim Allen turns into a dog,” said Kimmel, 56, referencing 2006’s The Shaggy Dog.

“If they decide to remake that film, I have just the guy to play Tim Allen’s part,” the late-night host said. Then the camera panned to Messi, sitting in the audience.

“Messi, who even though he’s a dog, may have given the performance of the year in Anatomy of a Fall,” Kimmel praised. 

He continued, “Messi has an overdose scene, if you’ve seen it you’ve known it. It’s incredible.” He joked, “Honestly I haven’t seen a French actor eat his own vomit like that since Gérard Depardieu.”

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Anatomy of a Fall is nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture — though unfortunately none of those are for Messi’s performance. However, the famous pup did win the Palm Dog Award at the Cannes Film Festival last May.

The film, directed by Justine Triet, stars Sandra Hüller as famous German novelist Sandra Voyter, who is accused of murdering her husband Samuel (Samuel Theis). Their son blind Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) uses Snoop as his guide dog.

Despite his lack of nomination, Messi, whose character in the film was named Snoop, has been the toast of awards season. He attended the February Oscars luncheon, where he met celebs and Oscar nominees including Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper. 

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On Sunday, Kimmel and Messi also got some face time hours before the show began — debunking rumors the dog would not attend. The host shared a video on Instagram of a practice run of his jokes alongside Messi.

Though the dog seemingly wasn’t impressed with most of themm Kimmel tried another one: “If you think the show feels overly drawn out to you, imagine how Messi feels right now. In dog years, this show is five and a half months long!" Messi barked his approval.

As for Messi’s performance, his trainer Laura Martin Contini told IndieWire in February that he had to be highly trained to perform in the film. “Even the simplest things take a lot of work,” she explained.

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