Benedict Cumberbatch responds to criticism of Sam Elliot's "The Power of the Dog".
Elliott, a veteran Western actor, appeared on Marc Maron's "WTF" podcast last week and described Jane Campion's Oscar-nominated film as a "piece of crap."
He compared the cowboy characters played by Cumberbatch and Cody Smit-McPhee to Chippendales dancers who "wear bows and not much else."
"They all looked like fucking cowboys in that movie," he said. "They're running around shirtless and shirtless. There are all these signs of homosexuality throughout the movie. Where's the westerner in this western?"
Elliott noted that Jane Campion is a "fantastic director", but asked, "What does this woman from below [New Zealand] know about the American West?"
During the BAFTA Film Sessions event on Friday, Cumberbatch spoke about his criticism of Elliot.
"I'm trying very hard not to say anything about a very strange reaction that happened the other day here on a radio podcast," he said.
"Without the meaning to stir over the ashes of that ... someone actually took offense - I haven't heard it so it's unfair for me to comment on it in detail - the West is being portrayed that way."
"These people still exist in our world," he continued, referring to his emotionally repressed, gay character, Phil Burbank.
"Whether it's at our doorstep or whether it's down the street or whether it's someone we meet at a bar or a pub or a sports field, there's aggression and anger and frustration and there's no way to control who you are in that moment." or an inability to know. harms that person and, as we know, harms those around them."
He added that there is "no harm" in "watching a character get to its root cause".
"It's a very specific case of repression, but also because of an intolerance for that real identity that Phil can't fully have."