Benedict Cumberbatch Addresses Sam Elliott's Ignorant Take On 'Power Of The Dog' On Marc Maron's WTF Podcast.
Power of the Dog, a front-runner in the Oscar race, came under some rather ignorant fire by actor Sam Elliott recently for its "allusions to homosexuality" regarding cowboys, saying that director Jane Campion treated them as Chippendale's dancers, when he appeared on Marc Maron's WTF podcast. He said this of the film, which delves into the secretive nature of being gay in an overly masculine vocation set in 1925,
"Where are we in this world today? It's not the biggest issue at hand, but for me it was the only issue because there was so much of it. I mean, Cumberbatch never got out of his f---ing chaps,"
Star of the film Benedict Cumberbatch addressed the controversial opinion to Marc Maron when he was invited to guest, although not name checking Elliott specifically.
"I'm trying very hard not to say anything about a very odd reaction that happened the other day on a radio podcast, without meaning to stir over the ashes of that. I won't get into the details of it, if it's hit in the news at home, it has here. But, someone really took offense.... to the West being portrayed in this way."
He continued,
"Beyond that reaction, the denial that anybody could have anything other than a heteronormative existence because of what they do for a living or where they're born... there's also a massive intolerance in the world at large towards homosexuality, still, towards an acceptance of the other, of any kind of difference, and no more so than in this prism of conformity, in the sense of what is expected of a man in the Western archetype mold of masculinity. These people still exist in our world.... there's aggression and anger and frustration and an inability to control or know who you are in that moment that causes damage to that person and as we know, damage to others around them. I think there's no harm in looking at a character to try to get to the root cause of that."
Generational bias is a tough subject. When the world changes around you, sometimes what seemed like a normal opinion soon devolves into ignorance and fear of evolving with the times. Hopefully, Sam Elliott can grow from this experience, see his missteps, and maybe become a more enlightened individual from it.
Power of the Dog is streaming on Netflix.
