On Sunday morning, Jane Campion was riding high in the saddle. Her homoerotic western, The Power of the Dog, had been cleaning up at awards ceremonies before the Oscars at the end of the month, where it is nominated in 12 categories, including best picture and best director. Of course, there have been dissenters. More than usual, perhaps: the film is a Netflix production and therefore likely to infuriate the sorts of audiences who would never have ventured out to a cinema to see it, but may have found it among their recommendations because they once watched Adam Sandler’s The Ridiculous 6.
Was Sam Elliott one of them? The actor, who has starred in westerns such as Tombstone and The Quick and the Dead, recently dismissed Campion’s film as “a piece of shit” before casting aspersions on its authenticity: “What the fuck does this woman from down there … know about the American west, and why the fuck did she shoot this movie in New Zealand and call it Montana?”
