Last month, Academy Award nominee Sam Elliot made controversial comments regarding 2 time Academy Award winner Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog. The actor commented on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast and criticized the movie for its homoerotic undertones and Campion’s ability to make a convincing Western because of her choice to shoot the movie in New Zealand.
On Monday, via Deadline, Elliot apologized for those comments:
“That movie struck a chord with me, and in trying to tell the guy, the ‘WTF’ guy how I felt about the film, I wasn’t very articulate about it. I didn’t articulate it very well, 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, before I got started when I was in this town. Friends on every level, in every job description, up until today, my agent, my dear friend, my agent for a number of years. I’m sorry that I hurt any of those friends, and someone that I loved, and anyone else, by the words that I used. I also told this ‘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, in particular Benedict Cumberbatch. I can only say that I’m sorry, and I am. I am.”
