The China Mail - Star dog Messi will interview stars on Cannes red carpet

Using a special 360-degree microphone and camera attached to his back, the Border Collie will chat with stars thanks to an actor behind the scenes.

"He's the star... I'm just lending him my voice," said comedian Raphael Mezrahi.

The resulting short clips will be available on French channels and TikTok.

Messi earned global attention for his role in "Anatomy of a Fall", winning the Palm Dog prize for best canine performance at Cannes. He then lit up social media when he was snapped with the likes of Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Billie Eilish during the Oscar campaign.

He has proved his acting chops: in one scene in the film, he had to feign intoxication and vomiting.

It took two months of preparation, said coach and owner Laura Martin, during which Messi learned to position his neck strangely and be "carried with his body very limp" to look unconscious.

Fake vomit came out of a tube placed under his mouth. "He didn't like that bit," said Martin.

But he was certainly having fun during AFP's recent visit to his home.

In exchange for chunks of sausage, he struck different poses -- paw on nose, standing frozen still, barking to the camera -- as he recorded messages for stars such as Emma Stone, who will appear at Cannes in her new film, "Kinds of Kindness".

"People have told me: 'Messi would be better off resting in his garden', but he knows his garden by heart. He loves people, he likes to be involved in the game," said Martin.

She had been a dog trainer and fell into the cinema world by chance, never dreaming "it would go this far".

Messi, named after the footballer by one of Martin's children, had been rejected for screen appearances in the past as "too beautiful and taking up too much space," she said.

There is another acting dog in the apartment -- Renard, a pocket-sized Prague Ratter, who appeared alongside Jean Dujardin ("The Artist") in French comedy "Presidents".

But Messi is the star and Martin reveals he has been offered an "American script" since his appearance at the Oscars, though she won't say more.

F.Jackson--ThChM