Jane Campion is venting further about Sam Elliott’s recent criticism of The Power of the Dog.
While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg on THR’s Awards Chatter Podcast — in an episode recorded last Friday — the director said of Elliott, “It has to be said, I think, he was being a bit of a b-i-t-c-h, because, you know, he’s not a cowboy, either, he’s an actor — he grew up in Sacramento and was educated in Oregon, you know? We’re dealing in a fictional world, we’re dealing in a mythic universe. The West is a myth, it doesn’t exist — Annie Proulx said that — and there’s a lot of room on the range to explore that myth. And this is just another version of it.”
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Campion continued, “You know, like, if you think about Sergio Leone movies, where were they shot? They were shot in Spain, and they are some of the greatest explorations of the Western myth ever made. So, you know, I think it’s just a little bit of a crusty cowboy problem.”
The director also quipped that she and Elliott should meet for a shootout. “OK, Sam, let’s meet down at the Warner Bros. lot for a shootout! I’m bringing Doctor Strange [the character played in Marvel films by Benedict Cumberbatch, who also starred in The Power of the Dog] with me!”
During a recent interview on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, Elliott explained why he didn’t like Campion’s Western and criticized the film’s character portrayals and themes of masculinity and sexuality. “They made it look like — what are all those dancers that those guys in New York that wear bowties and not much else?” Elliott said, referring to Chippendales dancers. “That’s what all these fucking cowboys in that movie looked like. They’re all running around in chaps and no shirts. There’s all these allusions to homosexuality throughout the fucking movie.”
Elliott’s criticism extended to Campion, whom he called a “brilliant director,” but questioned “what a woman from New Zealand would know about the American West.” Elliott also questioned why the film was shot in New Zealand but set in Montana, and presented like “this is the way it was.” He continued, “That fucking rubbed me the wrong way, pal. The myth is that they were these macho men out there with the cattle. I just come from fucking Texas where I was hanging out with families, not men, but families, big, long, extended, multiple-generation families that made their living and their lives were all about being cowboys.”
In recent days, Power of the Dog stars Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons have also given their take on Elliott’s criticism. Cumberbatch — who is nominated for an Oscar for his role in the film — alluded to Elliott’s comments during a recent BAFTA Film Sessions panel. “I’m trying very hard not to say anything about a very odd reaction that happened the other day on a radio podcast over here without meaning to stir up the ashes of that,” Cumberbatch said. He explained that he didn’t want to get into the details, but that he had heard someone take offense to how the West was portrayed.
He added: “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 Phil, to look at that, it’s not a history lesson.”
While speaking with THR on the red carpet ahead of the screening of his upcoming film Windfall, Plemons said Elliott’s comments “made me laugh” but that people are entitled to their own opinions. “I know there are different layers to that,” Plemons added. “Not everyone has to like it, I’ll say that. That’s fine.”
Last weekend, The Power of the Dog took home BAFTA’s top honor while Campion won for best director. The Western has snatched up numerous other awards and nominations this season and remains a best picture frontrunner for the Academy Awards, where it will compete in 12 categories.
