Power of the Dog star Jesse Plemons said veteran actor Sam Elliott’s ‘homophobic’ criticism of the film ‘made me laugh,’ before adding that ‘not everyone has to like it.’
The Oscar nominee, 33, also told The Hollywood Reporter that people are entitled to their own opinions while on the red carpet ahead of Friday night’s screening of his upcoming film Windfall.
‘I know there are different layers to that,’ he said. ‘Not everyone has to like it, I’ll say that. That’s fine.’
Plemons is the latest actor from the critically-acclaimed film to speak on Elliott’s comments regarding movie’s themes of masculinity and sexuality, which he delivered less than two weeks ago on Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast.
‘They made it look like – what are all those dancers that those guys in New York that wear bowties and not much else?’ Elliott, 77, said.
‘That’s what all these f****** cowboys in that movie looked like. They’re all running around in chaps and no shirts. There’s all these allusions to homosexuality throughout the f****** movie.’
Jesse Plemons, pictured, attends the Windfall LA Special Screening on Friday in West Hollywood, California
Pictured: Sam Elliott as Shea of the Paramount+ original series 1883
Jesse Plemons in a scene from the popular Netflix series Power of the Dog
In the interview at the center of the controversy, Elliott went on to question the suitability of the movie’s director Jane Campion, asking how a ‘woman from down there [New Zealand] can ”know about the American West.”’
Elliott added that he was also angry that lead actor Benedict Cumberbatch’s character never seemed to remove his chaps.
‘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.’
Elliott, however, did call director Jane Campion a ‘brilliant’ filmmaker and said he just did not agree with her direction in The Power of the Dog.
Campion, 67, said she ‘encouraged’ the homosexual fetishes and ‘gear’ seen in the movie when asked if she ‘ever worried about overdoing’ it.
‘Too much leather and ropes and chaps? I encouraged it,’ she told the Guardian in an interview published on March 4. She also said she knew parts were ‘quite eroticized,’ including a scene where Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is hiding a rope Phil (Cumberbatch) had given him under his bed.
The Power of the Dog follows Cumberbatch’s character Phil Burbank, a menacing rancher whose brother (Plemons) surprisingly gets married to a woman (Kirsten Dunst) who moves onto their ranch with her son (Kodi Smit-McPhee).
The film centers around Burbank’s anger over his repressed feelings as he torments his new sister-in-law and her son at their Montana ranch until he learns to love his family. It was filmed in New Zealand because Campion wanted to direct it close to her native country.
The film leads all contenders with 12 Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Director for Campion and Best Actor for Cumberbatch.
Sam Elliott attends the world premiere of “1883” at the Encore Beach Club at Encore Las Vegas on December 11, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada
Jesse Plemons as George Burbank and Kirsten Dunst as Rose Gordon in Power of the Dog
In response to Elliott’s comments, Cumberbatch hit back and described the comments as ‘very odd.’
Cumberbatch, 45, who stars as a repressed gay cowboy in the film, branded Elliott’s comments a ‘very odd reaction’ to the movie and noted there is still ‘a massive intolerance in the world at large towards homosexuality.’
‘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 during BAFTA’s Film Sessions on Friday.
Benedict Cumberbatch arrives at the AFI Awards Luncheon on Friday, March 11, 2022, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California
The Oscar nominated film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, above, playing a closeted gay man. Elliott said Cumberbatch spent too much of the movie shirtless and wearing chaps
‘Without meaning to stir over the ashes of that […] someone really took offense 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,’ Cumberbatch continued.
Elliott said his main gripe stemmed from the implications that the character Phil Burbank was a closeted gay man and that the movie over-critiqued the masculine image of the west.
Meanwhile, Elliott was spotted in public this week for the first time since he caused outrage by tearing into Oscar-nominated cowboy movie.
The dry-witted actor sarcastically claimed to have no knowledge of the movie when approached by DailyMail.com while running errands Wednesday.
‘What are you talking about?’ Sam said when asked about his thoughts on the film. ‘I don’t know anything about it.’
DailyMail.com spotted Sam Elliott running errands in his first sighting since bashing the film Power of the Dog
‘What are you talking about?’ Sam said while asked about his thoughts on the film. ‘I don’t know anything about it’