'Power of the Dog': Jane Campion just proved Sam Elliot right after she ADMITS 'fetishizing' film
Sam Elliot, a longtime western performer, made statements in an interview that sparked a 'homophobia' argument with 'The Power of the Dog' star Benedict Cumberbatch and director Jane Campion.
In an interview with the Guardian published on March 4, Cumberbatch described Elliot's reaction to the film as " very odd", adding that "massive intolerance in the world at large toward homosexuality still exists." When asked if she ever worried about overdoing it, Campion, 67, asserted that she 'encouraged' the homosexual impulses and 'gear' represented in the movie and that she meant the film to be 'fetishized.' Campion said, "Too much leather and ropes and chaps? I encouraged it." She also admitted that she was aware that some scenes were 'quite eroticized,' such as one in which Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) hides a rope Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) gave him under his bed.
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'Piece of s**t': Sam Elliott SLAMS 'The Power of the Dog' for 'allusions to homosexuality'
"It’s quite eroticized. That rope, man! That’s such an object. You’re making a rope out of the hides of the beasts that you grow on the ranch. It’s sort of like a proof of masculinity because you use it to get animals into submission," Campion explained. "I loved [the leather, ropes, and chaps] because they looked like satyrs. And when I looked at the pictures from the period, big woolies are really common; I guess Montana’s super-cold. So wearing a sheep on each leg is sort of helpful. You see Peter starting to wear these wrist leather things, God knows what for. People love gear. Now they love running shoes. Gear, stuff!"
For the uninitiated, Elliot, 77, ranted about the homosexual overtones in the 12-time Oscar-nominated film a few days before the interview was released. On comedian Marc Maron's WTF show this week, Elliot said of the movie's characters, "They're all running around in chaps and no shirts." He even compared the characters to Chippendales dancers, a male striptease troupe, saying "There's all these allusions to homosexuality throughout the f**king movie."
The story of 'The Power of the Dog' revolves around Benedict Cumberbatch's character Phil Burbank, who torments his new sister-in-law (Kristen Durst) and her son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) at their Montana ranch. Elliot, who is now filming the 'Yellowstone' prequel '1883', expressed his dissatisfaction with the picture, claiming that it damaged the notion of the macho Western hero. Elliott stated it was damaging the image of the cowboy just as he was filming '1883' when podcast presenter Marc Maron chimed in to remind him it was the objective of the movie.
"The myth is that they were these macho men out there with the cattle," Elliott said. "I just came from Texas where I was hanging out with families – not men – but families. Big, long, extended, multiple-generation families that made their livings... and their lives were all about being about cowboys." "And boy, when I f**king saw that [movie], I thought, 'What the f**k?'" he said. "Where's the western in this western?"
It was also shot in New Zealand because Campion wanted to direct it near to her own country, which Elliot found irritating. On the podcast, he asked, "What the f**k does this woman from down there, New Zealand, know about the American west. And why in the f**k does she shoot this movie in New Zealand and call it and say, 'This is the way it was.' That f**cking rubbed me the wrong way, pal."