Consider Uggie, Day 38: Artist Wonder Dog Takes England, Wins French Prize

After a few quiet holiday weeks on the #ConsiderUggie front, the awards campaign for The Artist's wonder dog has redoubled its efforts in that far-off land of influence and taste: Great Britain. Not to be outdone, a French awards body has finally thrown Uggie some much-deserved recognition. It's all coming together, folks!

According to a press release sent over to Movieline late Wednesday, everyone's favorite four-legged scene-stealer is making considerable headway this week in his quest for hardware:

Uggie has come a long way from almost being put to sleep in a pound to now being the most talked about dog in the film that has 6 Golden Globe nominations and is tipped to sweep the board at The Oscars. Following rave reviews and a stellar opening weekend for THE ARTIST on its exclusive London platform release, Uggie, the nine year old Jack Russell Terrier, canine star of the film will be arriving in London today for a week of media appearances including BBC’s The Graham Norton Show, BBC’s Newsround and a special screening of THE ARTIST for Dogs Trust. Just today, France's Lumière Awards awarded Uggie an honourable mention when announcing this year's nominations.

Wait, what?

Just today, France's Lumière Awards awarded Uggie an honourable mention when announcing this year's nominations.

Wow. Actually, the nominations for France's equivalent of the Golden Globes were announced just before Christmas, and sure enough, there he is: The fifth of five overall Prix Lumière acknowledgements for the homegrown Artist, and for now, anyway, the only one that the universally acclaimed film is guaranteed to win. Damn.

Elsewhere in animal awards news, author Susan Orlean continued her stumping on behalf of Rin Tin Tin -- the iconic German Shepherd whom Orlean further immortalized with a recent biography. Per Deadline:

During the exhaustive research that Orlean did for her book Rin Tin Tin: The Life And The Legend, she discovered that the true Best Actor winner in the first Oscars in 1929 was the German Shepherd, not the German silent film actor Emil Jannings, who walked away with the prize. And Orlean thinks it’s high time that the Academy corrects the injustice next month by giving a posthumous Best Actor prize to the biggest four-legged movie star of all time. [...]

"Look at Clash of the Wolves, as he limps away from his pack to die alone. You watch the scene and can’t believe he didn’t know he was acting in the movie. He is grimacing and limping, he falls to the ground in agony. How would you train a dog to look depressed and act as if he’s resigned to a lonely death? I don’t know how you do that. Somehow, the dog knows he’s supposed to look miserable and contemplating his mortality. What could have been the behavior Lee Duncan taught him to create that appearance?” [...] Uggie’s relationship with the title character in The Artist even bears a striking resemblance to the kinship between Duncan and Rin Tin Tin: the trainer’s devotion to the dog over his wife was cited in divorce papers filed by Mrs. Duncan.

Didn't Elton John write a song about this? And wasn't that nominated for an Oscar? It is meant to be! Just remember to #ConsiderUggie (and @Uggie_TheArtist) on Twitter and join up on Movieline's Consider Uggie Facebook page, and we'll keep the Uggie dream alive.

PREVIOUSLY
· Consider Uggie: The Awards Case for The Artist's Wonder Dog
· Consider Uggie, Day 3: The Artist's Wonder Dog Storms TV, Social Media
· Consider Uggie, Day 7: Is Artist Wonder Dog 'Facing Retirement'?

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