Screen veteran Sam Elliott has recently doubled back and issued a formal apology for the incredibly inappropriate, distasteful comments that he made last month regardingThe Power of the Dog. The movie was helmed by New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion and despite Elliott’s critical comments towards her, she just took home an Oscar for Best Director.
Last month, while speaking with Marc Maron on his famousWTFpodcast, Elliott describedNetflix’sThe Power of the Dogas a “piece of sht Western" with “allusions towards homosexuality.” He also went on to compare the cowboy characters to “Chippendales dancers who wear bow ties and not much else” and are “running around in chaps and no shirts.”Elliott directly came for Campionas well, proclaiming, “What the fck does this woman from down there know about the American west?” See, unfortunately, Elliott’s words are even more disappointing considering he has made quite the name for himself as a renowned western movie actor. He has starred in a plethora of films throughout his career that have been set in the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century - capturing the American cowboys taking on a new frontier.
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While speaking with Deadline, Elliott issued a formal apology for hiscomments aboutThe Power of the Dog. “I didn’t articulate it very well, and I said some things that hurt people - I feel terrible about that,” Elliott said. “The gay community has been incredible to me my entire career and I mean my entire career, from before I got started in this town. Friends on every level and every job description up until today. I’m sorry I hurt any of those friends and someone that I loved. And anyone else by the words that I used.”
The Power of the Dogis one of the rare films to even still be considered a western film because it’s one of the first in the entire genre to ever break down or question societal notions of toxic masculinity that viewers have been conditioned to see repeatedly. Based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Savage,The Power of the Dogis set on the 1920s American frontier and tells the story of two brothers who have a tense, distant, and estranged relationship with one another. Brothers Phil and George Burbank,played by Benedict Cumberbatchand Jesse Plemons, couldn’t be more different from one another. Phil is haunted and continuously stuck in the past, while George is obsessed with the idea of the future - both are not capable of living in the present. The film’s intent is meant to showcase the destructive consequences that arise from overt misogyny.
Elliott’s comments were not only nasty and crude but completely irrational and simply incorrect. Clearly, Elliot chose to blatantly try and shut down any other narrative that showcases men not having to prove their masculinity through firing a gun, abusing a woman, or being forced to be cis-gendered presenting or to adhere to hetero normativity, in any way shape or form. A real ‘man’ or decent human being doesn’t need to constantly assert their dominance or power over someone to be secure within themselves.Showing two cowboys kissingor riding off into the sunset with one another is exactly what this world needs to see right now and should have been seeing all along.
The Power of the Dogis available now for streaming on Netflix.
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