If Netflix is the big dog in Hollywood now, then “The Power of the Dog” is the dog behind the dog at this year’s Academy Award nominations, announced Tuesday.
The film’s 12 Oscar nominations include best picture, adapted screenplay, direction and all four key actors: the lead (Benedict Cumberbatch, who’ll win if Will Smith in “King Richard” doesn’t) plus three sizable supporting turns (Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jesse Plemons).
Nominations for “The Power of the Dog” handed a second directorial nod,to screenwriter-director Jane Campion, following “The Piano” a generation ago. Campion’s Netflix-backed 1925-set chamber Western of repressive sexuality and expressive vistas premiered last summer at the Venice International Film Festival. After that, to quote “Popstar,” it never stopped not stopping.
