Hollywood is obviously full of drama, but honestly the western genre usually is pretty chill. Well, Sam Elliott changed that when he had some intense and profanity-laced words for Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog. Apparently he didn’t take kindly to the Netflix western, and now the director has responded by inviting him to the set of Doctor Strange for a shootout between herself, Elliott, and star Benedict Cumberbatch. While it sounds like a joke, she does have some seriously pointed words for the western genre vet.
When she spoke to Deadline at the DGA awards, Jane Campion touched on what Sam Elliott had to say about her new movie and shared some words of her own for the 1883 star. She suggests the on-screen cowboy meet her on set of Benedict Cumberbatch’s, who was the star of her Power of the Dog and also had his own response to Elliott’s call-out, Doctor Strange set and shoot it out with them. Here it is in her own words:
When [Elliott] gets out of hair and makeup, I’ll meet him down at the OK Corral on the set with Doctor Strange, and we will shoot it out.
Since Sam Elliott called her out saying she was unable to tell the American west’s experience because she was from New Zealand, Jane Campion seems to be alluding to the fact that he is just a cowboy on screen. Her “hair and makeup” comment may be a reminder that they are, in fact, in the same industry.
If her shootout comment was meant for a bit of humor, her next one goes in the total opposite direction. In the same interview, Jane Campion calls Sam Elliott’s comments misogynistic and homophobic, among other backward thinking terms. If that wasn’t enough, she calls one of America’s most well known on-screen cowboys a bitch. Take a look at what she says, exactly, for yourself:
I think it’s really unfortunate and sad for him because he’s really hit the trifecta of misogyny and xenophobia and homophobia. I don’t like that. I think he was being a little bit of a b-i-t-c-h. Plus he’s not a cowboy, he’s an actor.
She again reminds Sam Elliott that he just plays a cowboy on the big, and small, screen. It’s probably safe to say that Jane Campion didn’t take Elliott’s comments lying down, no matter what your feelings are on her film or on what Elliott had to say about it.
Controversial and pointed words aside, there are a ton of great westerns available to stream right now. The Power of the Dog is also streaming now, and you can check it out with a Netflix subscription, along with a number of other great films on the streaming platform. If westerns aren’t your thing and you’re more into action in a multiverse kind of way, you can check out Benedict Cumberbatch in the Marvel’s Phase 4 most upcoming installment in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, coming to theaters on May 6th.
