Benedict Cumberbatch vs Sam Elliott: 'Power of the Dog' star slams '1883' actor's 'toxic masculinity'
Benedict Cumberbatch, 45, has responded to American actor Sam Elliott's criticisms of his film The 'Power of the Dog'. Sam, 77, had earlier called Jane Campion’s Western a “piece of shit.” He had also said that the characters in the movie are "running around in chaps and no shirts" and compared them with Chippendale dancers.
Benedict subtly reacted to the comment at the recent BAFTA Film Sessions interview, calling it a "very odd reaction." He added that he was reluctant to respond in detail because he hadn’t yet heard the episode of the “WTF with Marc Maron” podcast where Sam made his remarks about the movie.
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Sam had said, "I thought, ‘What the f—? What the f—?" before adding, “[The Cowboys] are all running around in chaps and no shirts. There are all these allusions to homosexuality throughout the f—ing movie.”
Sam also criticized star Benedict Cumberbatch‘s role as the repressed cowboy Phil Burbank: “I mean, Cumberbatch never got out of his fucking chaps. He had two pairs of chaps — a woolly pair and a leather pair. And every fucking time he would walk in from somewhere — he never was on a horse, maybe once — he’d walk into the fucking house, storm up the fucking stairs, go lay in his bed in his chaps and play his banjo. It’s like, what the fuck?”
Defending his character in the movie, Benedict termed Elliott’s remarks a “very odd reaction”. He added that “a massive intolerance in the world at large towards homosexuality” still prevails.
“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," Benedict said during BAFTA's Film Sessions.
“Without meaning to stir over the ashes of that […] someone really took offense to – I haven't heard it so it's unfair for me to comment in detail on it – to the West being portrayed in this way,” he continued.
Speaking about his character, Benedict said: “These people still exist in our world. Whether it's on our doorstep or whether it's down the road or whether it's someone we meet in a bar or pub or on the sports field, there is aggression and anger and frustration and an inability to control or know who you are in that moment that causes damage to that person and, as we know, damage to those around them.”
He added, “There's no harm in looking at a character to get to the root causes of that. This is a very specific case of repression, but also due to an intolerance for that true identity that Phil is - that he can't fully be.”
He slammed Elliott for looking under the hood of toxic masculinity and asked people to focus on the root cause of the problems, which will create “the bigger chances we have of dealing with it when it arises with our children.”
