What Famous Actor Spent Time In Montana To Prepare For New Movie?
Acclaimed filmmaker Jane Campion, whose work includes movies like The Piano and Holy Smoke!, is set to make her return to feature filmmaking this fall after more than ten years. The film she's putting together is called The Power Of The Dog, and it's set to get a small theatrical release in November before being available on Netflix beginning on December 1st.
It's a much-anticipated return for the director for film fans, and it boasts a terrific cast that includes Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Thomasin McKenzie, Kodi Smith-McPhee, and the movie's lead, Benedict Cumberbatch. The film is a western drama, about a rancher whose brother brings home a new wife and her son. Cumberbatch plays the rancher, and though the film was shot in New Zealand, he wanted to lend an air of authenticity to the production - which is why he went to Montana several times before shooting began, "learning everything from roping to braiding to horsework."
It sounds like Cumberbatch went full method actor for the movie, and was only referred to as his character's name, Phil, for the entire seven months of production.
It's pretty cool that Cumberbatch knew that Montana was the place to be if he wanted to get deep into learning how to be a rancher - and if you take the fancy handwork he has to do as Doctor Strange in the Marvel movies and put a rope in his hand, I'm betting you'd get some pretty impressive results.
The Roxy Theater here in Missoula sometimes shows some of Netflix's more prestigious films, so I'm hoping the movie ends up playing here (that's where I got to see Roma and The Irishman, and I'm so glad I watched them in a theater instead of at home). Will you be checking out The Power Of The Dog?