If you’re a cinephile, I’m sure you have heard about Anatomy of a Fall. Written and directed by Justin Triet, the courtroom murder-mystery won the prestigious Palm d’Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival last year. It also competed for the Queer Palm but lost to another excellent film – Monster. As the award season has progressed, the Justin Triet directorial has continued to win many awards including the National Board of Review Award for Best International Film, two Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture: Non-English Language and Best Screenplay – Motion Picture. The Sandra Huller starrer also secured five nominations at the 96th Academy Awards happening next month.
Despite all these invaluable achievements, the film is currently trending for something entirely different. If you’ve watched the film then you know how pivotal was Snoop’s (dog) role in the story. Well, it appears that fans are recognizing his effort as they’re demanding an Oscar campaign for him.
Anatomy of a Fall: After Snoop’s Cannes Win, Fans Campaign for Oscar!
When I listed all the illustrious awards that Anatomy of a Fall has bagged until now, I left out one. And if you believe the fans it is a major one. Along with the Palm d’Or, Anatomy of a Fall also won the Palm Dog at Cannes. For those of you thinking it is a typo, let me explain. The Palm Dog Award is a yearly award presented by the international film critics during the Cannes Film Festival.
It was started by Toby Rose in 2001. The award is given to the best performance by a canine (live or animated) or group of canines. The award consists of a leather dog collar with the term “PALM DOG”. The name of the award is a play on words of the Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest honor. While Cannes celebrated the performance of Snoop in the film, the recent Oscar nominations snubbed him.
Out of all the snubs this year, the internet seems to be angry about this one in particular. Let’s find out why. So, Snoop was played by a dog named “Messi” and his performance has been lauded by all in Justin Triet’s Oscar nominated venture. In all fairness, the canine actor has performed really well in many challenging scenes of the film.
Movie’s distributor Neon even started a trial campaign and sent around an email to media professionals advertising a press day with the movie’s “best supporting canine” tag. After winning Best Screenplay, Triet even gave Messi a shout out, saying, “Thank you to Snoop for being yourself, just a dog.” The entire internet is overwhelmed by his portrayal of Snoop, which is where the outrage has started.
Many have voiced their opinion claiming that Messi deserved a best supporting actor nomination as well, since he was the real scene stealer from the film. Just like Messi, the academy has snubbed many such animal actors in the past like Eli, the owl in Killers of the Flower Moon, the titular donkey from the 2022 drama EO, Bart The Bear (The Edge) and the trio of tabbies from Inside Llewyn Davis.
Earlier this year, Triet had told The Hollywood Reporter Snoop’s importance in the film, saying, “not just another character or some animal running around… in many ways, he represents this dead person, this absent person.” The filmmaker praised even Messi’s professionalism on set, saying it “… it’s often not easy to work with animals. But we had good luck this time to work with someone in the business, who trains animals for the industry.”
Anatomy of a Fall is currently playing in Indian theatres. The film is also available on digital and VOD platforms in the US.
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