The Power of the Dog

He's just a man. Only another man.

– Rose (Kirsten Dunst) on her brother-in-law Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch)

It had this mythic, epic feeling about it, that we couldn’t find [in America]. But it was a very difficult location to work with.

– Jane Campion on filming The Power of the Dog in Central Otago, IndieWire, 6 September 2021

It’s a brawny, brooding drama about the wreckage caused by men, beautifully framed in muted neutral tones as the camera circles the ranch-house with a deliberate, stealthy tread.

– Reviewer Xan Brooks, The Guardian, 2 September 2021

The dialogue is sparse and the scenery obscenely beautiful, the wide-open vistas of her native New Zealand standing in for circa-1925 Montana. Cumberbatch at first feels like he might have been miscast — too intrinsically British and cerebral for the cruel Marlboro Man swagger of his character. But as he and Smit-McPhee begin to circle one another, the odd thrumming chemistry between the actors clicks in in a way that feels almost inevitable...

– Reviewer Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly, 7 September 2021

You have to understand why these damaged people are causing damage to others and themselves. Whether that’s world leaders on the stage — strong men in politics who have risen again in recent times — or whether that’s something in your own life or culture.

– Benedict Cumberbatch on playing Phil Burbank in The Power of the Dog, The Guardian, 2 September 2021

...I had to kind of live in this really painful, insecure, terrible place, and feel terrible about myself the whole time, so that’s not the most fun. But I do it for Jane!

– Kirsten Dunst on playing the tormented Rose in The Power of the Dog, Metro, 12 October 2021

It is a riveting piece of story­telling. It’s something Jane and I felt immediately would translate into a very taut cinematic feature. It was also beguiling to come across a piece of material that wasn’t well-known, that we knew we could put our mark on.

– British producer Tanya Seghatchian on turning 1967 novel The Power of the Dog into a film, Screen Daily, 1 September 2021

Ever since I was young and watched The Piano, Jane has been a filmmaker that I’ve admired and wanted to work with. When I was in my 20s, she actually sent me a letter about working together…I’ve saved it since. Her films and the women in them have sustained me across my whole career.

– Kirsten Dunst on working with Jane Campion, Variety, 2 October 2021

The film is clearly a complex way of approaching masculinity. I think it’s a solid container for thinking and rethinking the men in this world. I see this film as a departure from my other films, but maybe it’s a nice bookend to The Piano. This is another big landscape film exploring the masculine myth.

– Jane Campion on her 2021 film The Power of the Dog, Variety, 2 October 2021