Benedict Cumberbatch’s Oscar campaign for The Power of the Dog has gone a lot smoother than his previous Oscar campaigns. Remember his campaign for The Imitation Game? Lord, that was at the height of Cumbermania, and during that campaign, we learned that Bendy impregnated Sophie. That man was doing the most back then, and I think he learned a lot from his oversaturation around that time. I’m sure at various points in recent months, Bendy might have even thought he had a shot at winning this time around, but I think Will Smith probably has it locked up at this point. Still, Bendy is doing awards-season events and his energy has definitely been more dignified, more diplomatic, less needy. Benedict was recently at an event for the British Academy, and he was asked about Sam Elliott’s homophobic tantrum about repressed gay cowboys in chaps. Bendy’s response was very thoughtful and interesting:

Appearing on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast last week, Sam Elliott ​​said he took the film’s portrayal of the American west as “f***ing personal”. “They’re running around in chaps and no shirts,” he said. “There’s all these allusions of homosexuality throughout the movie.”

Speaking at a Bafta Film event on Friday (4 March), Cumberbatch was asked about the importance of exploring a character like Phil and his toxic masculinity on screen. Alluding to Elliott’s comments, he added that he was “trying very hard not to say anything about a very odd reaction” made on a recent podcast.

“Without meaning to stir over the ashes of that… someone really took offence to – I haven’t heard it so it’s unfair for me to comment in detail on it – to the West being portrayed in this way,” he said (per Digital Spy). “These people still exist in our world. Whether it’s on our doorstep or whether it’s down the road or whether it’s someone we meet in a bar or pub or on the sports field, there is aggression and anger and frustration and an inability to control or know who you are in that moment that causes damage to that person and, as we know, damage to those around them.”

Cumberbatch added that there was “no harm” in “looking at a character to get to the root causes of that”.

“This is a very specific case of repression,” he continued, “but also due to an intolerance for that true identity that Phil is that he can’t fully be. The more we look under the hood of toxic masculinity and try to discover the root causes of it, the bigger chances we have of dealing with it when it arises with our children.”

[From The Independent]

“These people still exist in our world” – exactly. We’ve all had experiences with toxic people who exhibit that kind of toxicity because of all of the damage done to them. We’ve all met people who bully, abuse and harass other people. What never made any sense about Sam Elliott’s bitching is that it was a fictional story about something that felt very real: gay men not being able to be out of the closet, or even understand their own repressed sexuality. I feel like Bendy spoke about this with more nuance and heart than “a response to Sam Elliott” even deserved.

Photos courtesy of Netflix, Avalon Red.