Actor Sam Elliott has apologized for the comments he made about the movie, The Power of the Dog.
In early March, the veteran actor went on a rant against the movie on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast.
Elliott 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, who went on to win the Best Director Oscar for the Netflix flick, later said Elliott was “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.”
In the aftermath of the podcast, Elliott went to ground and did not offer any further comment. However, in a Deadline Contenders panel discussion held yesterday, Elliott rowed back the remarks. He attended the event to talk about 1883, his Yellowstone prequel show.
Sam Elliott apologizes for his controversial comments he previously made about ‘The Power of the Dog’ #DeadlineContenders pic.twitter.com/XZ86wCAXmL
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) April 10, 2022
Elliott is asked if he’d like to add any clarification to his comments about The Power of the Dog.
The actor responded, “That movie struck a chord with me. And in trying to tell the guy, the WTF guy, how I felt about the film I wasn’t very articulate about it.
“I didn’t articulate it very well,” he said. “I said some things that hurt people. And I feel terrible about that.
“The gay community has been incredible to me my entire career, and I mean my entire career, from before I got started in this town.
“Friends on every level, in every job description. Up until today, with my agent, my dear friend and my agent of a number of years.
“And I’m sorry I hurt any of those friends. And someone that I loved. And anyone else, by the words that I used.”
He went on to praise Campion and apologize to the cast.
“I also told this WTF podcaster that I thought Jane Campion was a brilliant director.
“And I want to apologize to the cast of Power Of The Dog, brilliant actors all, and in particular Benedict Cumberbatch.
“I can only say that I am sorry. And I am. I am.”
Related: Power of the Dog director Jane Campion calls Sam Elliott a “bit of a B-I-T-C-H”
Besides Campion, Cumberbatch, also reacted to Elliott’s initial comments. Speaking for the BAFTA’s Film Sessions series of interviews last month, and without naming Elliott, the British actor said, “someone really took offense… to the West being portrayed in this way.”
“Beyond that reaction,” Cumberbatch continued, “the denial that anybody could have anything other than a heteronormative existence because of what they do for a living or where they’re born… there’s also a massive intolerance in the world at large towards homosexuality, still, towards an acceptance of the other, of any kind of difference, and no more so than in this prism of conformity, in the sense of what is expected of a man in the Western archetype mold of masculinity.”
ryepie2222
Oh NOW he’s sorry? Oh please. He’s only sorry because of the backlash he got.
ZzBomb
To error is human, to apologize genuinely is humanity. Truthfully, I didn’t much care for the movie either.
lykeitiz
Same.
Leash
Cool of him to say he’s sorry, it sounds sincere to me.
It wasn’t one of those “I’m sorry YOU were hurt by what I’ve said” fake apologies.
No, he said “I said some things that hurt people. And I feel terrible about that.”
Jim
I always admire men who sincerely apologize for being wrong.
And by the way this is what an apology should look like
rphillips4165
It’s fine that he didn’t like the movie. His problem was that he kept trying to say the westerns he was in were more accurate. Bullshit. The west wasn’t like anything that’s been seen in movies. There were a lot of gay cowboys out in the west. They weren’t accepted in the east so they left. Cowboys sex lives didn’t just go away because they were out there. When there were only guys around they made due.
s b
Real cowboys sometimes took their shirts off, and still do. The wild west has a long history of cowboys having gay sex and cohabitation. Sam Elliot only apologized because he got called out.
I wonder what his wife, katherine Ross–a star herself of more than one western–thought of his homophobic BS.
CNY1983
im glad i never saw one of his acting jobs and thought he died a long time ago.
Donston
No one cares that he didn’t like the movie. The problem was that he felt the need to rant about how it wasn’t “true to the way things were back then” when his point of reference is cowboy mythology. The film is a far more realistic depiction of the “old west” than the majority of cowboy flicks. Most “cowboy stories” are complete fantastical and don’t at all reflect actual history. He also criticized the homo-eroticism and queer themes. It was never about whether he liked the flick or not. Only the people who tried to defend him made it about that.
Jimthy
Yep Grandpa Elliott was a real cowboy .Geez give me a break. Once again an actor runs his mouth and got cought.
storm45701
Sam Elliott is a well-known Hollywood liberal and Democrat. His initial comments never rang true for me because of that. You’ll note he never deflected in his apology. He owned it. If it had been the nasty Clint Eastwood or some other shmuck, I would have believed it. But not Elliott.
cc423
His apology was way better than that boring movie.
bachy
Is the film any good? I’ve been avoiding it because I’m exhausted by Cumberbatch’s overwrought acting style.
lykeitiz
No, it is not. It drags in too many spots, and imo it doesn’t have an Oscar-worthy script.
ftl2000
The fact that he apologized is one thing, but don’t think that he has changed his homophobic attitude. He reacted as he did, and said what he did because he has deeply ingrained homophobic tendencies. It is far too soon for him to have alleviated that, so this apology cannot be that sincere.
inbama
You certainly took offense.
Are you actually gay or just Jane Campion’s sock puppet?