1883 star Sam Elliott paid a visit to the WTF With Marc Maron podcast, and let’s just say that he’s not rooting for Jane Campion’s Netflix Western psychological drama to win any Oscars. The film scored several nominations, but Elliott is most decidedly a fan and told Maron that the film is a “piece of sh*t” because characters wore “bow ties and not much else,” and “[t]here’s all these allusions of homosexuality throughout the f*cking movie.”
Elliott had other criticisms, too, about how Cumberbatch’s sinister (and repressed, and rather miserable) character, Phil, would “play his banjo” too much, and “what the f*ck”? Hmm well, Netflix has noticed what Elliott said, and the streaming service curiously tweeted a screencap from the movie that feels a lot like a response. Since the Netflix film account doesn’t mention Elliott, however, one can witness the shade.
— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) March 1, 2022
“He’s just a man,” Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) can be seen saying to a shaken Rose (Kirsten Dunst). “Only another man.”
This line embodies much of the film’s critique against toxic masculinity, a point that Elliott doesn’t seem to appreciate. Phil terrorized the hell out of Rose, and Peter had vowed to protect his mother no matter what. This led to (despite Phil warming to Peter later in the movie) the young man’s decision to (apparently) give Phil rope tainted with the anthrax bacteria, so that he could never cruelly attack and endanger Rose again. It’s a bold move and an equally powerful message from the film, which reflects heavily upon sexuality and identity.
The Power of the Dog is currently streaming on Netflix, although you won’t see it in Sam Elliott’s queue.