The Power of the Dog , a powerful psychological drama, has received rave reviews ever since its release last December on Netflix, still a relative rarity for films released on streaming platforms.
But at least one person in Hollywood doesn’t like it: veteran character actor Sam Elliott, who slammed the movie for its ‘allusions to homosexuality,’ among other things, during an appearance on Marc Maron’s podcast.
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The film is based on Thomas Savage’s novel of the same name.
Directed by Jame Campion and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, and Jesse Plemons, the western film takes place in 1925 Montana.
It’s racked up all kinds of award nominations.
It has the most nominations — 12 in total — of any Oscar-nominated film this year, including Best Picture and Best Director. It’s also already won three Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture (drama), Best Supporting Actor (motion picture), and Best Director.
Sam Elliott doesn’t appear to be a fan.
Despite the accolades, Sam Elliott — known for appearing in gritty westerns very much like The Power of the Dog — went on a bit of a tirade during a recent podcast appearance.
Elliott made the comments on a podcast with Marc Maron.
On WTF with Marc Maron , one of the most popular podcasts ever, Elliott took some time to give his thoughts on the gritty Netflix western.
To his credit, Elliott did not hold back. Unfortunately, his views come off as a tad backward.
“Yeah, you want to talk about that piece of [expletive]?”
Elliott starts off his rant thusly, and it really all goes downhill from there.
“There was a [expletive] full page ad out in the LA Times, and there was a clip, and it talked about the evisceration of the American myth,” he said. “And I thought, ‘What the [expletive]? What the [expletive]? What are all those dancers, those guys in New York that wear bowties and not much else?”
“…running around in chaps and no shirts.”
“There were all these allusions to homosexuality throughout the [expletive] movie,” Elliott concludes.
Marc Maron replies, “I think that’s what the movie’s about.”
Maron is absolutely correct. Thomas Savage, who wrote the book the movie is based on, was a gay man, and one of the movie’s main themes is closeted men trying to deny their sexuality in the rough-and-tumble west.
Criticizing this movie for containing gay themes is kind of like criticizing a Jackie Chan movie for containing martial arts themes.
Elliott does praise the director, sort of.
His compliment is kind of backhanded, as it comes in between expletives and is attached to a criticism that because director Jane Campion is from New Zealand, she apparently can’t know anything about the American west.
He also called out Campion for choosing to shoot the film in New Zealand rather than Montana, saying “And why in the [expletive] does she shoot this movie in New Zealand and call it Montana and say, ‘This is the way it was.’ That [expletive] rubbed me the wrong way, pal.”
“Where’s the western in this western?”
Elliott has appeared in plenty of westerns, so he should already know this…but the western genre really just encompasses a setting. It can host all kinds of stories, whether they’re comedic, dramatic, or yes, even queer. I mean, Brokeback Mountain came out 17 years ago.
For what it’s worth, Elliott wasn’t a big fan of that movie either.
And, as should be obvious from the tweets interspersed here, Elliott has been taken to task on social media for his rant.
It seems Sam Elliott’s a bit out of touch.
It’s disappointing, as Elliott is a fantastic character actor who’s shown up in many beloved movies. Here’s hoping he’s able to come around and appreciate good cinema, even if it does contain gay themes.
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