Sam Elliott Canceled After Brutally Slamming Benedict Cumberbatch’s Movie
Sam Elliott is currently trending on Twitter, and it’s not for his new hit series Yellowstone:1883.
This article is more than 2 years old
Sam Elliott is currently trending on Twitter, and it’s not for his new hit series Yellowstone:1883. The 77-year-old actor is best known for his work portraying Western heroes and outlaws in film for over fifty years. However, the gun-slinging cowboy now finds himself under tremendous heat for recent comments criticizing the Benedict Cumberbatch movie, Power of the Dog, for its allusions to homosexuality and Chippendales dancers.
Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast recently welcomed Sam Elliott on air for a no-holds-barred conversation. As the conversation led to Maron asking Elliott about the recent western drama directed by Jane Campion, the Gone to Texas veteran had nothing pleasant to say about the film. Emanating that he would state his opinion on the film whether or not people wanted it, Elliott called Power of the Dog a “piece of sh**.” Continuing, Elliott compared the portrayal of the men in the film to those of Chippendale dancers saying, “What are all those dancers that those guys in New York who wear bowties and not much else. Remember them from back in the day?” Furthermore, Elliott went on to decry the film for its alleged allusion to homosexuality stating they were all “running around in chaps and no shirts…throughout the fu**ing movie.”
A clip from the podcast with Sam Elliott can be heard in the tweet below. Warning: The audio contains sensitive content.
Maron responded by stating that homosexuality is a theme of the movie, as Benedict Cumberbatch’s character in the film is a closeted gay man. In fact, Power of the Dog follows an off-beat format from classic spaghetti westerns that Sam Elliott has often starred in. The same method has been touted in the past, including the multi-award-winning film Brokeback Mountain, 2005’s neo-western drama that followed two gay ranchers. More recently, 2021’s The Harder They Fall also broke down the walls of the classic western Hollywood tropes, depicting African Americans as cowboys while tearing down the largely believed false notion that black men weren’t also cowboys in the wild west.
While Sam Elliott is definitely allowed to have his own negative opinion of Power of the Dog, his comments come off as naive. But in an already torn social landscape, the internet is torn on how to feel about the Tombstone vet’s very opinionated review. Many Twitter users have taken to the keyboard to depict their immense distaste for the actor after voicing his opinion. Most users pointed to the elephant in the room, being Elliott’s anger for the homosexual cowboy treatment. Many people made fun of Elliot for not knowing that homosexuality was alive and well even on the American frontier.
However, many Twitter accounts that shared disdain towards Sam Elliott’s comments made sure to respect the celebrity for his accolades in Hollywood while expressing shame for his comments.
On the other spectrum, some users took the opportunity to show support to Sam Elliott for not being afraid to speak his opinion on the matter. One user even believes that Elliott’s remarks were taken far too out of context and that the actor simply thinks that the film focused too heavily on homosexuality.
For those unaware of Jane Campions Power of the Dog, the 2021 western film was based on Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel of the same name. Starring Kirsten Dunst and Benedict Cumberbatch, the film told the tale of a domineering rancher battling his own sexuality after his brother brings home a new wife and her son. Despite Sam Elliott’s brutal beatdown on the film, it has received 12 nominations for the upcoming Academy Awards. The Award show will air Sunday, March 27th, and may just leave Sam Elliott upset as the film is anticipated to sweep the Award show.
