Sam Elliott

2022 - 3 - 2

Sam Elliott Has Only Helped The Power of the Dog’s Oscar Chances (unknown)

It's been 16 years since 'Brokeback Mountain' was dinged by old-school Academy members who couldn't handle gay cowboys. But a whole lot has changed since ...

So The Power of the Dog has become a movie to not only defend against the remaining people who are certain cowboys cannot possibly be gay, but also to discuss in depth—maybe even encouraging people to watch the movie again and really catch the subtext about how Cumberbatch’s character is merely posing as a rugged ranch hand. The speculation about how Crash pulled off that upset continues to this day, but a plausible theory is that there were just too many voters like Curtis and Borgnine who weren’t ready for a sweeping romance about two men. But by taking shots at The Power of the Dog, Elliott has almost certainly only helped the cause. That’s exactly what Netflix should hope for, but it also puts a prime target on the movie’s back. It was ready with a meme of its own. (Not for nothing, Curtis, Borgnine, and most actors who were famous in the 1950s are also now dead.) But the legacy of the skeptical cowboy apparently lives on.

Sam Elliott criticizes 'The Power of the Dog' (unknown)

Sam Elliot, who stars in the Paramount+ Western series "1883," slammed the Oscar-nominated "The Power of the Dog" for its "allusions to homosexuality."

“What ... does this woman from down there ... New Zealand, know about the American West?” Elliott asked. Elliott likened the cowboys in “The Power of the Dog” to Chippendales dancers. Elliott said that the common depiction of American cowboys as “macho men” is a “myth” and that in his experience, cattle ranching is a family operation.

Cowboys don't look like Chippendales dancers (unknown)

Actor Sam Elliott, who has played a cowboy for most of his career, slammed Jane Campion's revisionist take on the American West: 'I took it personal.'

“They erase the presence of anyone who isn’t white or male when the west was mostly built by Indigenous, Black, Mexican & Chinese people.” “But what the f— does this woman from [New Zealand] know about the American West?” he asked. He’d walk into the f— house, storm up the f— stairs, go lay on his bed in his chaps and play his banjo. “It’s easy to sum up the movie: It is at once a revisionist Western, a mystery ..., an exploration of masculinity and femininity, a lament for the limits the world puts on us and those we shoulder until we can no longer bear them,” Dargis added. In other words, the myth was no myth; it was reality. There’s all these allusions to homosexuality throughout the f— movie,” Elliott said. And it’s like ... where’s the Western? Where’s the W estern in this western?” Remember them from back in the day?” ‘The evisceration of the American myth.’ It looked like — what are all those dancers, those guys in New York that wear bow ties and not much else? “I thought, what the f—?” Elliott said. But, he said, he’d just come from filming in Texas where he was hanging out with big, multigenerational families — not just men — whose lives were all about being cowboys. Elliott said he hadn’t liked the film anyway, but then saw a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times with a review blurb that said “The Power of the Dog” was — in the actor’s words — “an evisceration of the American myth.” That comment really fried him.

‘Where’s the Western in This Western?’ (unknown)

On the 'WTF' podcast hosted by Marc Maron, 1883's Sam Elliott shared he did not like director Jane Campion's approach to 'The Power of the Dog' and its ...

The costuming in the film wasn’t Elliott’s only issue; the film was originally set in 1920s Montana while the production of the movie was filmed in New Zealand. “What the fuck does this woman from down there know about the American West?” criticized Elliott of Campion, “Why the fuck did she shoot this movie in New Zealand and call it Montana? And say this is the way it was? Elliott initially made his comments on the February 28 episode of WTF With Marc Maron; on the panel, he referred to Maron as “the WTF guy.” “Don’t go do a podcast whose call letters are WTF,” he joked. That fucking rubbed me the wrong way.” Campion told the Los Angeles Times in 2021 that the decision to film in New Zealand was due to budget constraints. “That’s what all these fucking cowboys in that movie looked like,” he told Maron. “They’re running around in chaps and no shirts. “Where’s the Western in this Western?” Elliott continued. And I feel terrible about that.” Elliott also specifically apologized to the gay community, noting he has had gay “friends on every level, in every job description, up until today with my agent, my dear friend.” And lastly, the actor apologized to the cast of The Power of the Dog and Jane Campion. “I can only say that I’m sorry, and I am,” he said.

Sam Elliott Slams ‘Power of the Dog’ as ‘Piece of S—,’ Criticizes Its ‘Allusions of Homosexuality’ (unknown)

Campion's drama is nominated for 12 Oscars, more than any film this year. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as a sadistic rancher who makes life hell for his new ...

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Post cover — Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

Can someone explain to Sam Elliott what The Power of the Dog is ... (The Guardian)

Despite more than 100 screen credits of his own, the actor sounded pretty confused about the basics on Marc Maron's podcast.

Take the 1972 film Frogs, which climaxes in a scene where hundreds of frogs stare at a man until he has a heart attack. First, it’s slightly ridiculous to assume that a forcefield is in place across the entire American west that sucks the gayness out of anyone who crosses it. It’s based on a book that was written by a gay man about his experiences in the west, and almost every review written about the film has mentioned the closeted longing at the heart of the film within the first few sentences. In a recent Vanity Fair interview, Benedict Cumberbatch had to defend himself against accusations of appropriation for taking the role. The Power of the Dog is a resoundingly queer movie. Towards the end of the WTF episode, he justifies his weird rant by pointing out that he had just been spending time in the American west, surrounded by families – “Not men, families” – suggesting that this is the true depiction of the cowboys that he’d like to see on screen.

Sam Elliott Says Power of the Dog Is a "Piece of S--t" in Scathing ... (E! Online)

Sam Elliott didn't hold back in his recent interview with Marc Maron, calling Jane Campion's Netflix movie Power of the Dog a "piece of s--t."

"It's not the biggest issue, but for me, it was the only issue," Elliott insisted. And boy, when I f--king saw that I thought, ‘What the f--k? That f--king rubbed me the wrong way, pal."