Sam Elliott recently made waves with his criticism of The Power of the Dog, deriding its “allusions of homosexuality”. One of the film’s stars, Kodi Smit-McPhee, has now responded to those comments. 

Out of nowhere earlier this month, Elliott came for Jane Campion’s Oscar-nominated flick while appearing on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. Despite hailing Campion as “a brilliant director”, he didn’t enjoy her “piece of shit’ film.

“What the fuck does this women from down there (New Zealand) know about the American west? Why the fuck did she shoot this movie in New Zealand and call it Montana? And say this is the way it was? That fucking rubbed me the wrong way,” he claimed.

Campion really had little power over this: the film is an adaptation of a 1967 novel of the same name. Interestingly, Annie Proulx has cited Thomas Savage’s novel as being an influence on her famous short story Brokeback Mountain.

The Power of the Dog sees Benedict Cumberbatch play Phil, a wealthy but sexually repressed ranch owner. Smit-McPhee portrays Peter, the young love interest of Phil, and he’s now responded to Elliott’s comments.

In an on-camera interview with Variety, he insisted he has “nothing” to say about his fellow actor’s digs “because I’m a mature being and I’m passionate about what I do, and I don’t really give energy to anything outside of that.” “Good luck to him,” he added very simply.

It follows Cumberbatch’s earlier rebuttal. “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,” he said.

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Not that Campion and her actors are caring too much about Elliott’s viewpoint: The Power of the Dog leads this year’s Oscar with 12 nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Director. Smith-McPhee is also nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

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