The Power of the Dog is a western drama film released in 2021 and directed by Jane Campion. The film is based on a novel of the same name by Thomas Savage. It made its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival where the director won the Silver Lion award for Best Direction. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. I shall give you some lesser-known trivia about this film that you probably couldn’t guess. Let's get started! Shall we?
1. Benedict Cumberbatch did a bit of method acting for his role of Phil Burbanks. The actor was known to not have bathed for two weeks and begun chain-smoking. His prior habit of smoking did not help the situation and the actor often used to get ill after each take. His chain-smoking got so intense that he got nicotine poisoning thrice during filming.
2. A scene where Peter is shown walking towards a tree with nesting Australian Magpie chicks is factually incorrect considering the film was set in 1920s Montana, in New Zealand where the bird is not found.
3. Cumberbatch also took up banjo lessons and learnt how to castrate bulls. In an interview with Variety, the actor said, “‘Learned’ is a big word. I did it and I experienced it. I did everything you see in the film.”
4. George Burbank was ultimately played by Jesse Plemons after Paul Dano dropped out from the film due to scheduling conflicts. Dano was working on his character of The Riddler in Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2020).
5. For the role of Rose (played by Kirsten Dunst), the makers had initially zeroed in on Elizabeth Moss, who would’ve collaborated with Campion for the third time. After being compelled to opt-out due to her prior commitments to Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins (2022), Dunst took on that role. Though Dunst convincingly plays Kodi Smit-McPhee's mother, the two are only 14 years apart.
If you haven't watched this flick yet, do so now streaming on Netflix.
That's the OTTplay Now You Know for today, I shall be back again with another episode soon. Until then it's your host Nikhil signing out.