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"
Aux News Sam Elliott
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.
72 Comments
Now that’s an apology a cowboy by way of Sacramento and Portland can be proud of.
Seems like a sincere, thoughtful apology.
He had zero to apologize for, shit movie, poorly made.
Calling it shit is a valid opinion, but it’s undeniably meticuloisly well crafted, so calling it “poorly made” reveals that you know nothing about filmmaking.
undeniably meticuloisly well crafted? Are you blind? The lighting continuity alone was all over the place, and I don’t mean the grading across the entire movie (which was poor), I mean the lighting within a single scene.The pacing of the editing? All over the place; cuts without rhyme or reason.Sound design? Obviously made by people who have never spent time on a range or in a desert.Camera work? Angles, mise en scene and framing right out of Falcon Crest/nighttime TV circa 1988.But hey, what do I know, I’ve only been working in the film industry for decades.
Diminished?
Sometimes you eat the bar…
Never make me star you again
I’ll star you, it feels less dirty.
What is that, some kind of Eastern thing?
That some kinda eastern thing?
Wow. I’ve never seen you play to the crowd so well! People can change! Sam Elliott! Recognitions! It’s a whole new world, people!
Um. You ok bro?
Even less so now. Recognitions, did you take a job in finance?!
whiteguyblinking.gif
That some kinda chapless thing?
How you gonna keep em down on the farm once they’ve seen Karl Hungus
Here is why Sam feels terrible….(SPOILERS) Sam, along with thousands of straight, heterosexual males were taken in by The Power of The Dog. Now, the writing of this film was impeccable and combined with the marketing led folk to believe they were sitting down to a western involving a young man and an angry older man. The trailers laid down the conflict yet bond of two brothers. You come away that Brother Phil has animosity towards his Brother George and he’s looking to vent his anger towards what George holds dear. None of the trailers or teasers hint at what the underlying theme is about. Sam Elliott, along with the others, were pulled into this well written meticulous and very complex yarn as they began to take an interest into the characters – including Brother Phil and the young boy Peter. Power of The Dog is so well written that the viewer, who might have deciphered the underlying tales being presented, could not pull themselves away from the story and stayed for that ‘HA! HA! GOTCHA!’ ending that no one anticipated. To Sam Elliott and all the others who came away angry that they got swept off their feet and taken for an enchanting ride on the path towards….HOMOSEXUALITY: It’s OK to appreciate The Power of The Dog, a definite Western without the typical tropes you’re accustomed to. To publicly share with others that you viewed The Power of The Dog saying ‘and you know what – I liked it.’ doesn’t make you less of a human being or to compromise your standards and beliefs – enjoying The Power of The Dog shows that beyond what you stand for, you can appreciate the art of the story, the art of the film and others will respect you that much more.
Would like to see a tweet from Lil Nas X about how he’s That Gay Friend and when Ole White Turd goes off on a Black creative he’ll get to be That Black Friend too.
“and did they have to use so many cuss words?”
What the fuck you talking about?
Willis?
Has no one seen The Big Lebowski?!?!?
I have, it’s been a few years tho
It’s ok, I guess I should have replied with “obviously, you’re not a golfer.”
I’m guessing Sam lost a shot at a role he wanted over the comments and it dawned on him that his audience really doesn’t want him saying that stuff.
Exactly. The first thought that popped up in my head when I heard he apologized was “How many roles did he get turned down for before he realized, ‘Hey, maybe I should apologize’?”
Perhaps think past the first thought every once in a while.
Probably 0, I doubt casting directors pay attention to non issues like this
I would hope that his agent or team had enough sense to get him to walk back the comments before parts dried up though.
Oh, why does everyone have to be a shithead? Maybe be meant it! Maybe it’s a confluence of conscience and self-interest. OK fine, it’s almost certainly a confluence of conscience and self-interest but that’s only half a reason to be cyncical!
nah, dude wouldn’t apologize that sincerely over something he thought, not at that age. I think that he hadn’t seen the film when asked about it and someone recently got him to actually watch it. I’ll assume that the beginning of that conversation was “Sam, WHAT IN THE FUCKERIN’ SUCCOTASH IS WRONG WITH YOU??!”
You know, when you say something like this, you’re essentially implying the only reason you might ever apologize for saying something offensive/wrong is because you’re worried about your career. Like, humans are incapable of remorse or growing unless they lose a shiny thing or others think poorly of them. Are those your only motivations for trying to become a better person?
Dude could retire tomorrow richer than you or I will ever be.
Maybe after being dragged everywhere over dumb comments he realized “uh oh, I f’d up?”
Sam trying to deflect some blame onto Marc Maron was a shitty start to an otherwise heartfelt apology. Marc didn’t do anything other than ask a question.
100% agreed. I was excited when I saw the WTF episode with Sam Elliott drop and turned it off within minutes, long before his comments on The Power of the Dog. Elliott gave a terrible interview – it was just profanity-laced gasbagging, in my opinion. This was hardly Marc Maron’s fault, the guy just asks questions and tries to relate. Maybe Elliott is mad that Maron published the whole thing, but as a seasoned actor, Elliott should know to mind his p’s and q’s.
The article says he casually dragged Maron, but I don’t see that in this article. I’m assuming they chose not to elaborate, as is the AVClub fashion. What did he say?
Elliott began his mea culpa with a semi-serious warning. “First, don’t do a podcast with the call letters WTF.”Not much of a dragging.
Source:https://deadline.com/2022/04/sam-elliott-apology-the-power-of-the-dog-comments-1234999185/
Oh. Hm. Yeah it seems like that could mean anything. Like “haha it’s called WTF and WTF happened to me after lawl.” Bah.
Yeah, nothing for Maron’s fans to get worked up over.
Maron might though, that guy is fueled by nothing but cats and grudges.
Haha yeah, though he’s mellowed out a bit I think. I mostly just listen to the episodes featuring other comedians. I really enjoy the resulting shop talk for some reason.
Which is obviously a silly joke in a “what did I think was going to happen?” sense.
it’s the podcast’s fault for asking me a question!
And a very benign one at that! The nerve!
Good apology. Not great, not terrible. Moving on.
His comments always seemed like a grumpy old man’s, but I didn’t sense bigotry there. I also laughed when I heard it, as well as Campion’s response. I’m glad he apologized for any feelings hurt, and hope this is the last we hear about the controversy.
“… and hope this is the last we hear about the controversy.” Not much of a precedence for that here …
Boy isn’t it crazy seeing an actual apology with thought put into it instead of some “sorry if you were offended” crap? You don’t see many of these.
Was odd to see I sorry I offended you rather than sorry you were offended by what I said.Hurt too when he said it, as I always liked him and his schtick
You can only be offended if you choose to be. And if you choose to be offended, whose fault is that?
You can only be offended if you choose to be. And if you choose to be offended, whose fault is that?
I mean, sure. It’s essentially the bare minimum which, as you pointed out, isn’t even met much of the time. So, credit where credit’s due, I guess. But apology aside it seems weird to give ‘credit’ to someone who’s initial lizard brain reaction was basically “NO HOMO” and to gatekeep Westerns. Not criticizing you at all and I personally think people somewhat deserve a mea culpa (depending, of course). Just commenting into the void.
That’s because much, perhaps most, of the time those claiming to be offended are being wholly insincere. They actively seek reason to be offended, then weaponize that to attack someone they dislike for other reasons. The appropriate response to such people is “Fuck off, snowflake.”
Still managed to get shat all over in this article. Maybe he did it ‘like a pro’, but there’s no reason to think he didn’t just actually take some time to reflect and realise he was acting stupid. The snarky tone is just getting relentless.
For real…and for what it’s worth, dude is old – if a person his age or older *makes an effort*, it’s commendable. I’m finally old enough to say from experience, the older you get, the more you snap to judgement, the more tiresome it is adapt, etc.Them’s facts. Like heart disease and your metabolism stopping. Snark ages poorly.
It isn’t snarky at all, it’s entirely a description of what happened literally no commentary is made in this article.
I like it. I’m going to go back to liking Sam Elliott now, but I understand if others choose differently.
“I ran my mouth and said some fuckery that I got called out for, and so am sincerely apologizing” seems acceptable. I’ve never heard anything but glowing things about the man (including from people I know who have worked with him) up until this point.
Sam BarsantiYeah so I probably remember correctly, that back when this happened, everyone basically agreed you were making a mountain out of a molehill and taking shit way out of context.
Speaking for the gay community (and why not, everyone apparently is a spokesperson for their community now), I accept his apology and frankly wasn’t offended to begin with. I didn’t have the same issues with the movie that he did; but I did find it tedious and feel like it got a lot more respect BECAUSE of the politics than it would have otherwise. Then again, I also didn’t love “Brokeback Mountain,” which isn’t so much a “gay cowboy movie” as it is a “bisexual shepherd movie” or “Call Me By Your Name,” so maybe I’m just a bad gay and shouldn’t speak for the community, after all.
Sounds like Sammy boy lost a gig and/or someone important on his team told him to kiss their gay ass. Whatev. Dude’s still getting paid for his confederate cosplay bs, in 2022. 2022, people. Time to let the aspirational American dream of being a slaveholder go, folks.
what are you talking about? Do you have a list of “Confederates” Sam Elliott is playing this year? Do you mean 1883, where he plays a former Union soldier? Or are you just trying to dribble out performative liberalism and say that all westerns are “Confederate?” Because you’re just making shit up.
Wow. So you’re like, kinda an idiot, cool.
His comments seemed qualified from the beginning – people might forget that he said how brilliant Campion’s past work was, that he like Cumberbatch, etc.. His main objection seemed to be that the movie just didn’t ring true as a portrayal of the American West. It didn’t, because wasn’t. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t great art, but if we have to start agreeing that someone’s fictional story is less wish fulfillment than accurate historical rendering, there’s going to be a hell of a lot more unnecessary arguments.And no, I’m not endorsing his comments. I generally think that not liking a story is enough, that we don’t, especially in this day and age, need to have specific comments about specific things to be read as illustrative of a global point of view. It’s like trying to object to a black James Bond…why? We all know that a black, Cold War era MI-5 agent with a license to kill would never have been able to operate in Russia or the casinos of Monte Carlo or Macau – would never have existed, really. If Oscar Wilde could tour America in the 1880’s lecturing on beauty, it’s not a foregone conclusion that a couple of gay wanna-be cowboys might have found a pocket of non-judgmental people.
his apology sounds like one of his lgbt+ family/friends that he respects took him aside, dressed him down, knocked his hat off, reminded him about a few things and made him watch the film. “I accept your apology Sam. Carry On”
“Sorry for those sexist, homophobic and misogynist things I said about that film.”
I guess he was not into the whole brevity thing…man.
It stuck a chord because you hate gay people Sam.
*twang!*
I refuse to criticize the new mayor of Quahog.
im so sick of all the phony celebrity apologies. If he didnt like the movie because he thought it was too gay, thats fine, he shouldve stuck with that.