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Messi the Dog, ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ Star and New Hollywood Darling, Expected to Miss Oscars

After wooing Ryan Gosling, Billie Eilish and Bradley Cooper at the nominees luncheon, and irking a few awards strategists in the process, the border collie will not be making a return trip for Sunday's ceremony.

Devastating news for fans of canine cameos: Messi, the scene-stealing border collie from best picture nominee Anatomy of a Fall and unlikely star of the 2024 Oscar campaign season, will not return to Los Angeles for Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony. Though reps for the Academy did not comment, a source at the Neon-distributed film says the French pup’s recent Hollywood sojourn, during which he overshadowed every human actor at the annual nominees luncheon, was a one-off. Multiple companies with nominated films complained to the Academy that allowing him to attend the event gave Anatomy of a Fall an advantage during the voting window, according to a source with knowledge of the complaints.

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