The Power of the Dog: Netflix dismisses Sam Elliott after actor calls Oscar-nominated film a ‘piece of s***’

Netflix appears to have dismissed the veteran actor Sam Elliott after he criticised Jane Campion’s critically acclaimed film The Power of The Dog over its depiction of cowboys and the wild west.

Elliott – whose cinematic legacy is inextricably tied to westerns – said he took the film’s portrayal of the American west as “f***** personal”.

In the latest episode of comedian Marc Maron’s podcast WTF with Marc Maron, which was released on Monday (28 February), Elliott and Maron were discussing some of 2021’s biggest releases.

Towards the end of the podcast, Maron asked his guest whether he’d seen Campion’s drama, in which Benedict Cumberbatch portrays the film’s lead.

“Yeah, you want to talk about that piece of s***?” Elliott asked, explaining that his disdain for the film was prompted in part by a critic’s review.

After Elliott’s comments made headlines, the official Netflix Film Twitter account posted a still from the film on Tuesday night (1 March), in which Kirsten Dunst’s character Rose tells her son Peter, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee: “He’s just a man. Only another man.”

In the scene, she is talking about Cumberbatch’s “cold” cowboy Phil.

Many commenters interpreted the tweet as a put-down aimed at Elliott.

“I JUST KNOW THIS IS ABOUT SAM ELLIOT LMAOOOOO,” wrote one person.

“Omg living for this shadeeeeee,” added another, while a third posted: “I wanna tag Sam so bad. Is he on Twitter?”

In the podcast, Elliott compared the cowboys in Campion’s movie to Chippendales dancers who “wear bowties and not much else”, adding: “That’s what all these f***ing cowboys in that movie looked like.”

“They’re running around in chaps and no shirts. There’s all these allusions of homosexuality throughout the movie,” he said.

Maron noted at this point that this is “what the movie’s about”, in reference to the film sequences that suggest Cumberbatch’s character is a closeted gay man.

Elliott also criticised what he perceived to be Campion’s lack of insight into the world she was trying to recreate.

Prefacing his answer by saying she’s “a brilliant director”, Elliott questioned: “What the f*** does this woman from down there [New Zealand] know about the American west? Why the f*** did she shoot this movie in New Zealand and call it Montana? And say this is the way it was?”

The actor suggested that “the myth is that they [American cowboys] were these macho men out there with cattle” when reality couldn’t be further.

“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***ing saw that [movie], I thought, ‘What the f***.’”

Elliott had been shooting for Taylor Sheridan’s Western TV show 1883, a prequel for Yellowstone, in Texas.

When Maron tried to defend the film, Elliott retorted: “Where’s the western in this western?”

“I mean, Cumberbatch never got out of his f****** chaps,” he said. “He had two pairs of chaps – a woolly pair and a leather pair. And every f****** time he would walk in from somewhere – he never was on a horse – he’d walk in to the f****** house, storm up the f****** stairs, go lay in his bed, in his chaps and play the banjo.”

The Power of the Dog is one of the frontrunners at this year’s Academy Awards, with 12 nominations.

You can read The Independent’s four-star review of The Power of the Dog here.