Just days after actor Sam Elliott called Best Picture front-runner The Power of the Dog, star Benedict Cumberbatch defended the film.
The 77-year-old actor was on Marc Maron's WTF podcast last week, where he cursed the film for the characters, "running around without a shirt on." There are all these signs of homosexuality throughout the film' and questioning what New Zealand's original director, Jane Campion, "knows about the American West."
Cumberbatch, 45, spoke (via Digital Spy) during the film session of the BAFTAs on Friday, where he addressed controversial comments.
During the filming session, Cumberbatch was asked why it's relevant these days to explore a character like Phil Burbank, whom he plays in The Power of the Dog.
He added that there are so many Phil Burbanks in the world, that we should 'look under the hood' of characters like this, 'see what their struggle is and why it is like this in the first place.'
The actor paused briefly before addressing Elliot's comments, saying, "I'm trying very hard not to say anything about a very strange reaction that happened the other day here on a radio podcast." '
The actor continued, 'Without the meaning to stir over his ashes […].
'These people are still present in our world today. Whether it's at our doorstep or down the street or someone we meet at the bar or pub or in the playground, there's aggression and anger and frustration and it's hard to control or control who you are in that moment. There is an inability to know. Damage to that person and, as we know, harm to those around them,' Cumberbatch continued.
The actor said that 'there is no harm in watching a character to get to its root cause'.
Cumberbatch continued, 'This is a very specific case of repression, but also because of the intolerance for that real identity that Phil has that he may not be wholly.
"The more we look under the hood of toxic masculinity and try to discover its root causes, the greater the potential for dealing with it when it happens to our children," he said.
The Power of the Dog follows Cumberbatch's character Phil Burbank, a menacing rancher whose brother (Jesse Plemons) is surprisingly married to a woman (Kirsten Dunst), who is his son (Cody Smit-McPhee). ) goes to her farm.
The film leads all contenders with 12 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Jane Campion, and Best Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch.
Campion is the only woman in the Best Direction field, going up against Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza), Kenneth Branagh (Belfast), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car) and Steven Spielberg (West Side Story).
Cumberbatch will face Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos), Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick... Boom!), Will Smith (King Richard) and Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth).