Sam Elliott apologizes for Power Of The Dog comments, now says it “struck a chord” with him
Earlier this year, Elliott complained on WTF about the film and its "allusions to homosexuality"
During a Deadline event to promote his Yellowstone spin-off 1883, Sam Elliott was provided with a pristine silver platter he could use to walk back his seemingly homophobic and misogynistic comments about Jane Campion’s The Power Of The Dog, and credit where credit’s due, Elliott walked them back like a pro—though for some reason Elliott did casually drag Marc Maron, host of the WTF podcast where he made the comments in the first place.
Elliott, who had said “fuck no” to Maron when asked if he liked The Power of The Dog and suggested that a New Zealander like Campion had no right to make a cowboy movie, told Deadline that the movie actually “struck a chord” with him and that he just did a bad job articulating his thoughts about it. Elliott had also complained to Maron about the—as he put it—“allusions to homosexuality throughout the fucking movie,” and he does seem remorseful about that. He told Deadline that he feels “terrible” about it, saying, “the gay community has been incredible to me my entire career” and adding that he’s had “friends on every level and every job description up until today” who are gay, and he’s sorry for hurting “those friends and someone that I loved” (seemingly indicating that someone he knows was personally offended by what he said).
Elliott also apologized to the cast and crew of The Power Of The Dog, “in particular Benedict Cumberbatch,” saying, “I can only say that I’m sorry and I am. I am.” Faith Hill, who stars on 1883 with Elliott and probably didn’t need to chime in on this, chimed in nonetheless to point out that Elliott is apparently a very nice guy on set and will apologize for anything, “whatever it was, if he stepped on a toe or knocked off a hat.”
Cumberbatch and Campion had already responded a long time ago, with Cumberbatch defending the movie and the type of character he played in it while Campion noted that Elliott’s criticism “hit the trifecta of misogyny and xenophobia and homophobia.” She later won a Best Director Oscar for the film.