Sam Elliot Walks Back 'Power Of The Dog' Criticism: 'I Wasn't Very Articulate'

Actor Sam Elliotdrew in a fair amount of criticism in early March for comments he made about “The Power of the Dog,” which was written and directed by Jane Campion. The film has received many positive reviews from fans and critics and received a dozen Academy Award nominations.

However, the movie failed to impress Elliot, who called the movie a “piece of s---.”

The renowned Western actor spoke his mind on a recent episode of the WTF With Marc Maron podcast. When host Marc Maron asked if he saw the film, Elliot didn’t hold back.

Elliott replied, “You wanna talk about that piece of s–t?” He then mentioned a Los Angeles Times article that “talked about ‘the evisceration of the American myth.'”

“I thought, What the f---? What the f---? This is the guy that’s done Westerns forever,” he said. “The evisceration of the American West, they look like, all those dancers, those guys in New York that wear bow ties and not much else? Remember them back in the day?”

Maron explained that those dancers are called Chippendales dancers. Elliott then said that he thought all of the cowboys in the movie looked like Chippendales dancers, adding, “They’re all runnin’ around in chaps and no shirts. There’s all these allusions to homosexuality throughout the f---ing movie.”

Maron replied, “Yeah, I think that’s what the movie’s about,” before mentioning that Cumberbatch’s character of Phil Burbank was meant to portray a closeted homosexual man. At that point, Elliot turned his anger on the film's director.

“Jane Campion’s a brilliant director, by the way,” Elliot said to start off his criticism. “I love her work, previous work. But what the f--- does this woman from down there, New Zealand, know about the American West? And why in the f--- does she shoot this movie in New Zealand and call it Montana and say, ‘This is the way it was?’ So that f---ing rubbed me the wrong way, pal.”

He also criticized the character’s costumes, saying, “I mean, Cumberbatch never got out of his f---ing chaps. He had two pairs of chaps—a wooly pair and a leather pair.”

“And every f---ing time he would walk in from somewhere… he never was on a horse, maybe once—he’d walk into the f---ing house, storm up the f---ing stairs, go lay in his bed in his chaps and play his banjo. It’s like, what the f---?” he went on.

He added, “Where’s the Western in this Western?… I took it f---ing personal, pal.”

Although Benedict Cumberbatch and Jane Campion have both criticized his response, Elliot waited until April to apologize for his criticism of the Oscar-nominated film, which failed to scoop up Best Picture.

On Sunday, Elliot apologized for comments he made on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, as per Deadline.

“I told the WTF podcaster that I thought Jane Campion was a brilliant director, and I want to apologize to the cast of The Power of the Dog, brilliant actors all,” Elliott said. “And in particular Benedict Cumberbatch. I can only say that I’m sorry and I am. I am.”

Elliot was at the Contenders TV event on Sunday to promote the new Paramount+ series “1883.”

He began his apology by saying, “First, don’t do a podcast with the call letters WTF.” He added that the move “struck a chord with me” and he simply wanted to explain “how I felt about the film.”

“I wasn’t very articulate about it. I didn’t articulate it very well,” Elliott continued. “And I said some things that hurt people and I feel terrible about that. The gay community has been incredible to me my entire career. And I mean my entire career, from before I got started in this town. Friends on every level and every job description up until today. I’m sorry I hurt any of those friends and someone that I loved. And anyone else by the words that I used.”

His co-star, Faith Hill, said that Elliot had an “amazing character” and would apologize to anyone he offended. “What it was, if he stepped on a toe, or knocked off a hat [he would apologize],” she said, before following it up with, “We love Sam.”