With his appearances in such films as Road House and The Big Lebowski, Western legend
Sam Elliott remains a beloved star to this day, at the age of 77.
That might be changing now, however, as it seems that Sam has turned much of the public
against him with his recent remarks regarding the Academy Award-nominated film The Power
of the Dog.
According to Sam Elliott, the film disparages the legend of the West with its allusions
to homosexuality, as well as its underdressed male stars.
Two of the stars of Power of the Dog Benedict Cumberbatch as well as Kodi Smit-McPhee have
responded to Sam’s remarks, while previous remarks from the film’s director, Jane Campion,
indicate that she was looking for controversy.
She has become the first woman ever to receive two nominations for the Academy Award for
Best Director thanks to her work on the film.
Join Facts Verse as Sam Elliott just ostracized himself from Hollywood.
Recently, Sam Elliott made an appearance on comedian Marc Maron’s podcast, WTF with
Marc Maron.
The appearance might have gone without much notice if it weren’t for the fact that Marc
Maron brought up the recent Western film The Power of the Dog, prompting a decidedly shocking
reaction from Sam Elliott.
As soon as Marc brought the film up, Sam responded with the use of a four-letter word!
Based on Sam’s impromptu reaction to the mention of The Power of the Dog, it seems
that the 77-year old actor considers the film to be a piece of crap.
It wasn’t for nothing that Marc Maron chose to bring up The Power of the Dog when interviewing
Sam Elliott.
The Power of the Dog is one of the most popular Western films in recent years, with the film
garnering immense critical acclaim and awards attention.
Sam Elliott is one of the most revered Western icons still alive, and the actor is still
hard at work filming Western works of his own to this day, although to a decidedly diminished
audience compared to his heyday.
When asked to explain his negative immediate reaction to the mention of The Power of the
Dog, Sam Elliott went on to bring up several issues that he had with the feature.
Predominantly, Sam seems to feel that the film damages the legend of the West as he
sees it.
The Power of the Dog revolves around the theme of homosexuality, and Sam seems to feel that
it spreads the wrong image about the way real cowboys acted back in the day.
While being interviewed by Marc Maron, Sam Elliott likened the characters in The Power
of the Dog to Chippendales dancers as a result of their oftentimes-revealing costumes.
It seems that Sam Elliott’s biggest problems with The Power of the Dog are its allusions
to homosexuality, as well as the fact that New Zealand director Jane Campion chose to
film the movie in her home country instead of on location in Montana, where the film
is supposed to take place.
While mentioning director Jane Campion, Sam Elliott claimed that he was a huge fan of
the director’s previous work, which includes the critically acclaimed 1993 feature The
Piano.
However, Sam feels that the female director had no right to film a Western in New Zealand
and claims that her work was emblematic of true American history whatsoever.
Sam Elliott tried to be fair to director Jane Campion with his comments on WTF with Marc
Maron but still claimed that The Power of the Dog rubbed him the wrong way.
Of course, there are many who feel that Marc Maron was setting the beloved Western icon
up for controversy to draw attention to his podcast.
The comedian isn’t above controversial topics, and it’s no surprise that it was he who
managed to get these comments from Sam.
While the comments regarding The Power of the Dog were merely a small part of the podcast
episode featuring Sam Elliott, they certainly managed to bring about quite a bit of buzz.
Not only is Marc Maron certainly getting the attention that he wanted, but people are looking
up Sam Elliott.
Given that Sam Elliott claimed that he was working on a project during the interview,
perhaps this attention may provide an ironic boost to the actor’s career amongst audience
members who share his views.
In the wake of the controversy that was stirred up as a result of Sam Elliott’s comment
regarding The Power of the Dog on WTF with Marc Maron, the film’s two main male stars
have come out to offer decidedly considered rebuttals.
Meanwhile, remarks that Jane Campion made mere days prior to Sam Elliott’s suggest
that she was always looking for controversy with her film.
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Western legend Sam Elliott is likely shocked at the controversy that has come about as
a result of his comments regarding recent Western The Power of the Dog on comedian Marc
Maron’s podcast, WTF with Marc Maron.
When the comments started causing a buzz, it didn’t take long for some of the prominent
individuals involved in the critically acclaimed feature to come out and offer their two cents.
Benedict Cumberbatch is The Power of the Dog’s lead star, and he is receiving a good deal
of awards attention as a result of his performance in the film as closeted homosexual rancher
Phil Burbank.
When it came time for Benedict to respond to Sam Elliott, the British actor was decidedly
considered with his words so as not to stir the pot.
When responding to Sam Elliott’s claims, Benedict Cumberbatch said that he hadn’t
fully heard what Sam had said during his interview with Marc Maron, but that he was aware that
the beloved Western icon had expressed some ire with the way that the West was portrayed
in The Power of the Dog.
While Benedict relented that the few out-of-context quips that he had heard from the interview,
including the bit about Chippendales dancers, were certainly odd, he felt that there was
no reason to jump down Sam Elliott’s throat.
In regards to whether or not it was appropriate for The Power of the Dog to depict the West
in the way that it does, Benedict expressed that he felt that film was realistic in its
depiction of its characters, although those characters might not be emblematic of the
West as a whole.
However, Benedict feels that it’s important for these marginalized individuals and their
place in history to be explored.
Finally, Benedict went on to offer some unlikely sympathy towards Sam Elliott, with the British
actor understanding that it must be hard for the beloved Western icon to see the genre
of the Western become something that he doesn’t understand when he was one of the stars who
helped popularize it.
Sam Elliott is still hard at work on his own Westerns, but it seems that general audiences
are more interested in the boundary-pushing work of Jane Campion, whether it depicts the
denizens of the West as scantily clad homosexual Chippendales dancers or not.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s main male costar in The Power of the Dog is Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Kodi had decidedly less to say in response to Sam Elliott when compared to his British
costar, but his response was a good deal harsher.
Kodi claimed that he was above responding to Sam’s claims, but that he wished the
Western icon luck in his futile crusade.
While The Power of the Dog’s director, Jane Campion, hasn’t directly responded to the
remarks that Sam Elliott made on WTF with Marc Maron, she did say something just days
before that alluded to the fact that she may have been looking for controversy all along
with the release of her recent Western.
In an interview conducted prior to the release of the episode of WTF with Marc Maron but
published afterward, Jane Campion indicated that she was looking to push the envelope
with The Power of the Dog in regards to the film’s homosexual imagery.
In this respect, it seems like Sam Elliott may have been playing right into the filmmaker’s
hands with his seemingly controversial take.
Jane Campion is only a decade Sam Elliott’s junior, at the age of 67.
The female director has been at it for quite some time, and The Power of the Dog isn’t
even the director’s first film to garner significant awards attention!
The director previously had a hit with the critically acclaimed 1993 film The Piano.
The Power of the Dog is nominated for 12 Academy Awards, and, with these nominations, Jane
has become the first female director ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for
Best Director two times in her career.
The Power of the Dog centers on main character Phil Burbank, played by Benedict Cumberbatch,
who is dealing with repressed homosexual feelings while living on his Montana ranch with his
family, which includes Kodi Smith-McPhee’s character.
The Western that Sam Elliott has been working on isn’t a film, but a television series.
That series is 1883, which is a sequel to the already-established Western series Yellowstone.
If 1883 manages to be as much of a success as its parent series, Sam may have a steady
paycheck on his hands!
However, it remains to be seen just how much the series’ success, as well as Sam’s
career, are affected by his recent remarks.
The beloved Western icon has seemingly caught on to the fact that it may be better for him
to keep his mouth shut about Hollywood issues.
When the star was approached by a tabloid publication recently to offer further opinions
on the controversy, he smiled and remarked that he had never even heard of The Power
of the Dog.
Beloved Western icon Sam Elliott feels that the recent hit The Power of the Dog depicts
the West all wrong due to the fact that it contains allusions to homosexuality and was
filmed in New Zealand.
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that the director of the recent hit Western
The Power of the Dog’s is now the first female to ever receive two nominations for
the Academy Award for Best Director thanks to her work on the film and that beloved Western
icon Sam Elliott thinks that the movie is a piece of crap?
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