Popular Western actor Sam Elliott, who starred in Yellowstone’s 1883 prequel, raced for New Zealand director Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog because of its effects on gay cowboys in the West.
Speaking to Mark Maron on a WTF podcast on Monday, Elliott, 77, called the Oscar-nominated Champion a “little thing” and said he had personally offended him by portraying him in the American West.
“What the hell does this woman down there, New Zealand, know about the American West,” said Elliott, whose career began with supporting roles in The Way West and Butch and Cassidy and the Sundance Kid before entering the stable in the genre. with roles in The Quick and the Dead and Conagher.
“And why the hell did she make this movie in New Zealand and call it Montana and say, ‘That’s right.’ That damn rubbed me in the wrong way, buddy.
Elliott said that his main complaint stemmed from the suggestion that the character Phil Burbank, played by English actor Benedict Cumberbatch – famous for Sherlock and Marvel, was a closed gay man and that the film was too critical of the male image of the West.
“They’re all running around with boys and no shirts on,” Elliott said of the film’s characters, comparing them to the Chippendales dancers. “There are all these allusions to homosexuality in the whole fucking movie.”
The film focuses on Burbank’s anger over his repressed feelings as he tortures his new daughter-in-law and son on their ranch in Montana as he learns to love his family. It was shot in New Zealand because Campion wanted to direct it near his home country.
The film was nominated for Best Picture, and Champion, 67, was nominated for Best Director. She is the first woman to receive two nominations for Best Director since she was nominated for Piano in 1993.
Veteran actor Sam Elliott (above), whose career is rooted in the western genre, called Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog a “piece of shit” and said he had personally insulted Western critics with the film’s protagonist, a repressed gay man.
Elliott said Campion (pictured) doesn’t know enough about the West and that the myth that cowboys were “macho men” is real.
Oscar-nominated film star Benedict Cumberbatch, above, plays a closed gay man. Elliott said Cumberbatch spent too much of the film shirtless and with men
Elliott complained that the film was too critical of the “macho men” of the West, whom he had portrayed for years. He compares the cowboys in the film (above) to the Chippendale dancers
When Maron stepped in to tell Elliott that this was the meaning of the film, the veteran actor said it spoiled his image of the cowboy while filming 1883.
“The myth is that they were these macho men with the cattle,” Elliott said.
“I just came from Texas, where I hung out with families – not men – but families. Big, long, extended families of several generations who made a living … and their lives were tied to cowboys.
“And boy, when the hell did I see that? [movie]I thought, “What the hell,” he said.
“Where’s the western in this western?”
Maron noted that Elliott’s criticism has weight because of his close ties to the Western genre.
In recent years, Elliott has been a guest star on the Western TV show Justified, which earned him a Critics Choice TV award, and in 2016 he starred in the Netflix series The Ranch.
He also received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the musical drama Bradley Cooper-Lady Gaga, A Star is Born in 2018.
Campion (left, pictured with Cumberbatch) was nominated for Best Director
He added that he was also angry that Cumberbatch’s character never removed his boys.
“Every time he came in from somewhere – he was never on a horse – he went into the fucking house, stormed the fucking stairs, went to bed, to his boys, and played the banjo.
However, Elliott called Champion a “brilliant” director and said he simply disagreed with her directing in The Power of the Dog.
Campion’s previous work includes the Piano, which won her an Oscar for Best Original Play in 1993.
She also created, wrote and directed the television mini-series Top of the Lake, which won the Elizabeth Moss Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.
She won the Silver Lion Award at the 78th Annual Venice International Film Festival last year for directing The Power of the Dog.