Jane Campion Sounds Off On Sam Elliott S Power Of The Dog Criticism

The Power of the Dog director Jane Campion has fired back after Western movie veteran Sam Elliott harshly criticized the film, accusing the Oscar-nominated filmmaker of being unqualified to make movies about the American West. The actor pointed to the film’s homoerotic undertones along with its filming location to suggest that Campion knew nothing about Westerns and made The Power of the Dog feel inauthentic as a result.

“What the fk does this woman — she’s a brilliant director by the way, I love her work, previous work — but what the fk does this woman from down there, New Zealand, know about the American West? And why in the fk does she shoot this movie in New Zealand and call it Montana and say, ‘This is the way it was.’ That fking rubbed me the wrong way, pal,” Elliott said on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast.

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Campion has since offered her response to the criticism in a recent chat with Variety. The filmmaker notes how Elliott is not a genuine cowboy but a person who sometimes plays one in movies. She also believes that Elliott criticizing her for shooting The Power of the Dog in New Zealand is sexist as this overlooks Sergio Leone’s acclaimed Western movies that were filmed in Spain. As Campion says:

Some of the stars of the film have also responded to what Elliott had to say about The Power of the Dog. Benedict Cumberbatch disagreed with the assertion that cowboys in the American West were all heterosexual, commenting on the “denial that anybody could have any other than a hetero-normative existence because of what they do for a living or where they’re born.” Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee both said they got a laugh out of Elliott’s remarks and didn’t pay much attention to them beyond that.

The Power of the Dog Might End Up Sweeping the Oscars

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Sam Elliott isn’t a fan of The Power of the Dog, but he’s in the minority. The film is widely acclaimed with a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It is also up for many big awards at the Oscars this month, which includes Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Jane Campion, as well as Best Picture, Best Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch, Best Supporting Actress for Kirsten Dunst, and Best Supporting Actor for both Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

The Power of the Dog is streaming on Netflix. You can find out how well it does at the Oscars when the ceremony airs on ABC on March 27, 2022, at 8:00 PM EST.