Jane Campion: Directing The Power of the Dog
Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons in Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog. Image: Kirsty Griffin/Netflix
When Jane Campion first read Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel The Power of the Dog, little did the director know her nuanced feature adaptation would become the most honoured film at this year’s 94th Academy Awards with a dozen nominations, including Best Director and Best Picture. Set in 1925 Montana, The Power of the Dog follows the story of widow and mother Rose Gordon (Kirsten Dunst) as she marries George Burbank (Dunst’s real-life spouse Jesse Plemons) and is tormented by her new brother-in-law, cruel rancher Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch).
The western psychological drama has been praised by critics, earning seven nominations at the 79th Golden Globe Awards, eight at the 75th British Academy Film Awards and 10 at the 27th Critics’ Choice Awards. But Campion’s detailed direction is the true talk of the town. Her sensual exploration of masculinity and the male ego is approached with nothing but the highest respect for the craft, proving her worthy of her Best Director Oscar nomination – which makes her the only woman in history to be nominated twice for the award.
Jane Campion helped Cumberbatch disappear into the role of sadistic rancher Phil Burbank. Image: Image: Kirsty Griffin/Netflix
FINDING PHIL
Phil Burbank is a polymath. There isn’t much he can’t do. So in preparation for the role, Cumberbatch went on a “dude camp” in Montana, where he learned how to ride on a horse named Cricket, and developed many other technical skills, such as whistling, whittling, roping, ranching, one-hand cigarette rolling and banjo playing. He also learnt ironmongery and taxidermy, which didn’t make the final cut of the film. Neither did the actor’s dancing skills. On the first day of rehearsals, Campion organised Cumberbatch and Plemons to work on a brothers’ waltz. With Cumberbatch leading, the dance “felt like a shortcut into our dynamic”, Plemons tells Netflix Queue. This is just one of the many ways Campion pushes her actors to uncover and portray even the smallest of character intricacies.
According to Cumberbatch, Phil is someone who “hates on the world before it can hate on him.” He is a controlling, demeaning bully whose bark is his bite – exactly what the Academy Award-nominated actor says he is not. “From the moment you hit set, you have to be Phil Burbank,” Campion told the gentile Cumberbatch. This is not an uncommon approach to acting, but usually doesn’t come at the request of the director. On top of this, the Brit was prohibited from apologising throughout the day, further disappearing into his character. At the 59th New York Film Festival, the Cumberbatch reflects on how this stopped him from “mechanically looking at a scene” and instead gave him “permission to be [Phil], to absorb him.”
“I can’t really think of another collaboration I’ve had like this in my life. She really does take you to places that you’ve never been able to get to before”
– Benedict Cumberbatch on working with Jane Campion
Cumberbatch is Campion’s first male lead. He praises her female gaze and the reward in offering actors the space and time to be vulnerable. In an interview with Variety Studio at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival), he distinguishes her directing style – with Academy Award-nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee (Peter Gordon) nodding in agreement – as open rather than instructive: “She never said ‘I want you to feel this way.’ There was no audience-thinking with her. It was all about the intention of the craft, of the process, of getting into the character.” By all accounts, Campion’s sensitivity created a “bond of trust” which gave the actors “courage to be daring” and to dissect aspects of their characters that they previously might have been hesitant to freely explore – such as sexuality.
Cumberbatch says Campion creates a bond of trust that gives actors courage to be daring. Image: Kirsty Griffin/Netflix
LIVING THE DREAM
Campion assigned herself some homework before undertaking the project, opting to work with creative dream coach Kim Gillingham. A growing practice in Hollywood, creative dream coaching involves facilitating a dialogue between yourself and the character. The Piano director attributes Gillingham as “the only person who really helped [me] as a director”. It could have been this psyche work which helped her recognise the subconscious connection she had to this layered story and, in particular, to the monstrous character of Phil. Campion has revealed she had her own version of Phil haunting her childhood in the form of an “evil nanny”. From age five to 11, she was abused by this “disturbed person” who would whip her with a horse whip, causing welts to rise on her skin.
In her own words, Campion is a “thoroughist”. Whether it’s the posture of a hug or the capturing the mountainous New Zealand landscape, Campion is aware of it all. “I’m obsessed with trying to create a visual world,” she says, knowing that could not be done without cinematographer Ari Wegner, who by no surprise received a nomination for her exceptional photography direction.
Campion’s attention to detail also applies to her literary eye, as she generously plucks motifs from the American fiction to weave into her screenplay. Phil’s whistling, however, is unique, used to highlight his incessant taunting. Humbly, the Best Adapted Screenplay nominee admits: “I stand on Thomas Savage’s shoulders and then try and use what [I] can to tell the story in a different way for film.”
Jane Campion, you’re a champion.