MOVIE NEWS – Benedict Cumberbatch, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and writer/director Jane Campion discuss the process of making the upcoming western thriller.

Many people are already talking about the Oscar-winning chances of Netflix’s upcoming original, The Power of the Dog, a western thriller starring Benedict Cumberbatch and written and directed by Jane Campion. The actors, including Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee, are all set to portray the harsh world of cattle ranching in Montana. The filmmakers talked about their film after the AFI Film Festival premiere.

From the trailer alone (see below), Benedict Cumberbatch’s transformation into the cruel and crude Phil Burbank of the 1920s, not to mention the old west accent, is remarkable. Campion asked Cumberbatch to apply ‘method acting’ to his role. “Ben and I talked about it, and I could see that he felt a lot of pressure at befriending every member of the crew and that just was not going to serve him, me or the film.”

“I said, ‘Look, we should do this old school, and you should stay in character.’ He was nervous that everyone would hate him, but I said that does not matter. It doesn’t matter to Phil, and it’s not going to matter to you.”.

Kodi Smit-McPhee, who plays the vulnerable young man, Peter, the main target of Phil’s cruelty, said of Cumberbatch’s performance, “Obviously, Benedict is so far from the character that he plays, Phil, who is quite cruel in his nature and narcissistic and has a lot of trauma in him. Benedict is an apologetic, lighthearted, beautiful, fuzzy Englishman.”

“It was amazing to see that spectrum, but if anything, it really had a very positive domino effect on us all, in terms of actors and on the set overall, to stay in a certain mood and to keep it in this kind of hostile nature. We needed that to convey these messages that are very strong within the story. I enjoyed it.”

Benedict Cumberbatch confirmed that it was difficult for him to stay in character but that his most difficult moments were not because of this or the physical nudity but because of something else. “I’m literally exposing myself in this film, and that’s interesting. But I guess the most painful thing to me, if I’m f-cking honest, is trying to pretend I can play the banjo. [My character] is someone who has done it all their life, and I’m trying to master it in 4 weeks or something stupid. That’s tough.”

According to Netflix’s official synopsis, the plot of The Power of the Dog revolves around the conflict between the Burbank brothers, Phil and George (Jesse Plemons), and Rose (Kirsten Dunst) and her son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), set in 1925 Montana. Phil’s evil, brutal character is counterbalanced by the more lovable George. Still, after the latter takes home his fiancée, the widowed, childless Rose, and his son Peter, Phil’s malicious behaviour intensifies, especially towards Peter, whom he sees as simple-minded and unlucky. But at one point in the story, he suddenly changes radically: he takes the troubled boy under his wing. Does he mean well, or is he up to another wicked prank, another humiliating trick…?

Source: The Hollywood Reporter