Photo: David Fisher/Shutterstock; Gabe Ginsberg/Getty
Benedict Cumberbatchis responding toSam Elliott’s negative reaction to his Oscar-nominated filmThe Power of the Dog.
Cumberbatch, 45, addressed Elliott’s criticism of the film Friday during a BAFTA Film Sessions event.
“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,” Cumberbatch said.
“Without meaning to stir over the ashes of that … someone really took offence 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.”
“Beyond that reaction,” he added, “that sort of denial that anybody could have any other than a heteronormative existence because of what they do for a living or where they’re born, there’s also a massive intolerance within the world at large towards homosexuality still and toward an acceptance of the other and anything kind of difference… it’s not a history lesson.”
Sam Elliott (L); Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst inThe Power of the Dog.Ethan Miller/Getty Images; Netflix
Elliott, 77, previously made it clear he is not a fan of how the American West was portrayed inThe Power of the Dog.
On an episode of theWTF with Marc Maronpodcast, posted Feb. 28, the1883actor talked about what he claims aLos Angeles Timesad called an “evisceration of the American West” in theJane Campion-written and directed film.
Likening the look of the “cowboys” in the film to Chippendales dancers, Elliott (who has appeared in many Western-set films and television series) said, “They’re all running around in chaps and no shirts. There’s all these allusions to homosexuality throughout the f—ing movie.”
Benedict Cumberbatch inThe Power of the Dog.KIRSTY GRIFFIN/NETFLIX
“And why in the f— does she shoot this movie in New Zealand and call it Montana and say, ‘This is the way it was’? " added theOscarnominee.
Elliott said the filming location “rubbed [him] the wrong way,” along with what he calls the “myth” of “these machomen out there with the cattle.”
“I just come from f—ing Texas where I was hanging out with families — not men, but families. Big, long, extended, multiple-generation families,” he said.
The Power of the Doghas been a favorite over the current awards season, leadingthe Oscarshopefuls listwith 12 nominations.
source: people.com
