The Power of the Dog was up for several awards over the weekend, with its stars and creative crew splitting their attendance between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles and the BAFTAs in London.
Acclaimed director Jane Campion was asked about recent criticism of the movie by the veteran actor Sam Elliott. The Yellowstone star had trashed the Montana-set western for being shot in New Zealand and for its male characters “running around in chaps and no shirts. There were all these allusions to homosexuality throughout the fucking movie.” Elliott summarized the work as “a piece of shit”.
Related: Sam Elliott goes on epic rant trashing “piece of sh*t” gay movie ‘Power of the Dog’
Director Jane Campion spoke to Variety at the DGA awards on Saturday. Asked about Elliott, she said, “I’m sorry, he was being a little bit of a B-I-T-C-H. He’s not a cowboy; he’s an actor. The West is a mythic space and there’s a lot of room on the range. I think it’s a little bit sexist.”
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“When you think about the number of amazing Westerns made in Spain by (director) Sergio Leone,” she said. “I consider myself a creator. I think he thinks of me as a woman or something lesser first, and I don’t appreciate that.”
One of the movie’s co-stars, Jesse Plemons, is up for an Oscar for his role. He spoke to the Hollywood Reporter on Friday night, while on the red carpet for a screening of the new movie, Windfall. Asked about Elliott’s criticism, he said, it “Made me laugh … I know there are different layers to that. Not everyone has to like it, I’ll say that. That’s fine.”
The Power of the Dog is nominated in 12 categories at the Oscars. On Sunday, it won Best Picture at the 2022 Critics’ Choice Awards. It also scooped some of the top awards at Britain’s BAFTAs, including Best Movie and Best Director for Campion.
Related: Benedict Cumberbatch slams Sam Elliott’s homophobic response to ‘Power of the Dog’
Another of the movie’s stars, Benedict Cumberbatch, also recently responded to Elliott’s comment. During a BAFTA Film Sessions interview, he said, “I don’t want to get into the details of it … but somebody really took offense to — I haven’t heard it, so it’s unfair for me to comment in detail on it — to the West being portrayed in this way.
“And beyond that reaction — that sort of denial that anybody could have any other than a heteronormative existence because of what they do for a living or where they’re born, there’s also a massive intolerance within the world at large toward homosexuality still, toward an acceptance of the other, of any kind of difference, and no more so I guess than in this prism of conformity of what’s expected of a man in the Western archetype mold of masculinity.
“So I think to deconstruct that through [Cumberbatch’s character] Phil, to look at that, it’s not a history lesson.”
SamB
Of course she pulls the s@xist card. Jesse’s answer was by far the best. And Benedict loses points for using “heteronormative”.
Polaro
While I would normally roll my eyes when some pseudo-intellectual says “heteronormative”, it actually is 100% correct in this discussion.
Cam
Of course the sexist, rac-ist, anti-LGBTQ troll account jumps in, because an accomplished woman speaking up enrages you.
Your troll game is sad and weak.
Eternal.Cowboy
I’m sure Cumberbatch is losing sleep because you don’t approve.
SamB
Cowboy: I know he is.
dbmcvey
Points from whom?
storm45701
Campion also took offense to the fact that Elliott criticized her for filming in New Zealand. That’s why she mentioned Sergio Leone — he filmed many of his spaghetti westerns in Spain.
mastik8
Free speech and its consequences.
Polaro
What would those consequences be?
cuteguy
Sam Elliot is a complete and utter m0ron who’s prob in the early stages of dementia.
Polaro
A bit over the top because you disagree with him not liking a movie… I disagree with Sam, but I leave it there.
Polaro
We have bigger problems…
Cam
Elliott was crying that the movie wasn’t filmed in America….you know, unlike all those westerns he supposedly loved…..that were filmed in Italy.
falcon77092
Simple math. This movie has won 71% of all awards that it has been nominated to date, yet Sam Elliott has never one any of his seven nominations.
I wonder who has a better grasp on reality.
SamB
Made up film awards = reality? Sam Elliott is a real person, a movie is real in a sense that it exists, you can own a copy if you want, but it’s more a visceral experience. Which is more real, a living person, or a movie?
Cam
@SamB
Yawnnnnn… Oh look, one of the anti-LGBTQ troll screenames is here to vigorously defend somebody who said something bigoted.
Anytime you defend somebody it pretty much cements the idea that they’re a bigot.
inbama
So much drama about this vastly overrated film.
With a sharper screenplay, Matthew McConaughey and Timothée Chalamet, it could’ve had some sparks.
storm45701
Elliott is a known Hollywood liberal, who called Brokeback Mountain “a beautiful film”. I’m not sure what his true beef is here. Victim of a bad interview?