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 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

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

...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

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

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

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