(NOTE LANGUAGE) Veteran actor Sam Elliott has apologized for his pre-Oscars comments about Academy Award winner Jane Campion‘s The Power of the Dog.
To Marc Maron‘s WTF Podcast last month, Elliott made waves when he called the Western “a piece of sh**,” and, among other things, slammed the movie’s “allusions to homosexuality.”
However, the Lonesome Dove and 1883 star took a more thoughtful tone at a Deadline television event on Sunday. “First, don’t go do a podcast whose call letters are ‘WTF,'” he joked.
“I told…[Maron] 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,” he commented. “And in particular Benedict Cumberbatch…I can only say that I’m sorry, and I am. I am.”
Elliot also commented of his criticisms, “…I didn’t articulate it very well…And I said some things that hurt people and I feel terrible about that.”
He added, “The gay community has been incredible to me….my entire career, from before I got started in this town. Friends on every level and every job description up until today. I’m sorry I hurt any of those friends and someone that I loved. And anyone else by the words that I used.”
As reported, Campion didn’t take kindly to Elliott’s criticism, spelling out her opinion, literally, by calling the actor a “B-I-T-C-H.”
Cumberbatch was less personal, but addressed Elliot’s “odd reaction” without naming him during the British Academy of Film and Television Arts series Film Sessions, saying that while Elliott took issue with the British actor’s gay cowboy Phil Burbank, “These people still exist in our world…”
He added, “There’s no harm in looking at a character to get to the root causes of that. This is a very specific case of repression, but also due to an intolerance for that true identity that Phil is that he can’t fully be.”