(Paris) Four legs on the red carpet: Messi, star dog ofAnatomy of a fall, Palme d’Or 2023, returns to the Cannes Film Festival, equipped with microphone and camera to collect the words of stars. And it’s not cinema this time.
“He’s the star, Messi is going to interview the stars in Cannes, I’m lending him my voice, you’ll give it back to me, right, Messi? », explains French comedian Raphaël Mezrahi for AFP, sitting on a sofa next to the famous 8-year-old Border Collie.
“I will be on all fours behind Messi, it is my voice via Messi who will ask the questions, well it’s a little complicated, but it will be very clear afterwards,” he continues.
Basically, Messi will wear a light device, microphone and camera, facing the stars on “the red carpet” or “exiting their bathroom”, details Raphaël Mezrahi.
The one-minute film – “Messi, the Cannes Film Festival seen from dog height” – will be available in eight episodes on the French channels France 2, France 3, Culturebox and TV5 Monde from May 16. TikTok will relay a best-of. A message against abandoning pets on the road to vacation will punctuate each sticker.
“People told me: ‘Messi would be better off resting in his garden’, but he knows his garden by heart, he loves people, the world, he lends himself to the game,” said AFP Laura Martin, trainer and master of the canine phenomenon.
“Mutt”
PHOTO ALAIN JOCARD, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Laura Martin and Messi
Two weeks before the opening of Cannes, AFP attended the 360° microphone and camera tests on Messi’s back, delighted to be the center of attention of eight people in his living room and then in the campaign surrounding.
“Messi is a mutt (actor who does too much, Editor’s note), clearly yes,” laughs Laura Martin, 37 years old. It was one of his children who named him that, a nod to the football star.
Dog trainer for individuals, fell into cinema for coach pets and ensuring their well-being on set, Laura Martin never thought that “everything would go this far” with Messi. The dog accompanied him everywhere, but was never taken: “’Too beautiful, takes up too much space,’ they told me.”
Also far away is Los Angeles. Anatomy of a fall won the Oscar for best screenplay. And the Border Collie blew up social media during a nominees’ luncheon with viral selfies taken by actors Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and singer Billie Eilish.
Since then, Messi “received”, as Laura Martin says, “an American scenario”. She doesn’t say more. And slips out that yes, the phone rings more often. Her home looks like that of “Mme everyone “. Except in the kitchen: we see the invitation to the Oscars.
Poses
There’s another star in the apartment. It’s Renard, a 4-year-old female Prague Ratter, who starred alongside Jean Dujardin in the French comedy Presidents.
This pocket format is “a dog that you take in your arms, a little chilly”, describes its coach. The action is for Messi. Who impresses in a scene of intoxication and convulsion in Anatomy of a fallfilm about the autopsy of a couple of artists living isolated in the mountains.
During the two months of preparation, Messi notably learned to position his neck strangely for this scene and to be “carried with his body very limp”, to play a loss of consciousness after vomiting. Fake vomit coming out of a tube placed under its mouth. “He didn’t like it, anyway,” confides his coach.
The day the AFP came was fun. Against pieces of sausage, Messi took different poses – sitting, paw on nose, standing frozen, barking in front of the camera – for video messages to actress Emma Stone (La La Land) and American TV host Jimmy Kimmel. From star to star.