Benedict Cumberbatch in Power of the Dog Image: Netflix
During his BAFTA screening on Friday, Power of the Dog star Benedict Cumberbatch took a moment to comment on someone’s venomous reaction to the film (of course, that someone was Yellowstone star Sam Elliott).
Elliot sparked controversy last week when he called The Power Of The Dog a “piece of shit” with “all those homosexual allusions” during an interview on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast. The Sacramento native then asked what Jane Campion (from New Zealand) might have known about the American West. He worded his remarks in a way that only made him sound like a screaming sexist.
“I’m trying very hard not to say anything about a very strange reaction that happened on a radio podcast the other day,” Cumberbatch said of Elliott’s interview.
Cumberbatch continued: “Not wanting to stir up the ashes of that […] someone was really offended – I didn’t hear it, so it’s unfair of me to comment in detail – that the West is portrayed in this way.”
In the session, Cumberbatch went on to explain how the story and his character Phil Burbank represent very real things in our lives. He also notes that people like Burbank did exist at the time the film and novel are set, and people like this continue to exist today.
“These people still exist in our world. Whether it’s on our doorstep or in the future, or someone we meet in a bar or pub or on a sports field, there is aggression, anger, frustration and an inability to control or know who you are in that moment that causes damage to that. human being and, as we know, damage to those around them,” said Cumberbatch.
“There is nothing wrong with looking at a character to understand the root causes of it. It’s a very specific case of repression, but also of intolerance for the true identity that Phil is, which he can’t be in full,” added Cumberbatch. “The more we look under the hood of toxic masculinity and try to uncover its root causes, the more likely we are to deal with it when it occurs in our children.”
Campion’s Dog Power was the most Oscar-nominated film of the year, and Cumberbatch himself is competing in the Best Actor category for his role in Burbank.