Netflix buys 'Power of the Dog' Western starring Moss, Cumberbatch

‘The Power of the Dog’ will be directed by Jane Campion.

Netflix has bought global rights to The Power of the Dog, a feature film directed by Jane Campion (The Piano, The Portrait of a Lady) and starring Elisabeth Moss and Benedict Cumberbatch. The streaming giant plans to release the film in 2021, both on the platform and in theatres, making it eligible for Oscars consideration.

Based on the 1967 novel by Thomas Savage, The Power of the Dog is the story of two wealthy brothers who own the biggest ranch in Montana. The siblings are polar opposites; Phil, portrayed by Cumberbatch, is brilliant but cruel and George is gentle and fastidious. When George unexpectedly marries a young widow (played by Moss), Phil starts a relentless campaign to destroy her.

The film is being produced by See-Saw Films and Big Shell Films/Max Films Production, in association with Brightstar and BBC Films. It's expected to go into pre-production at the end of the year. Campion, who adapted the book for the screen, said she couldn't get the story out of her head. "The Power of the Dog is a sublime novel that deserves a life on the big screen. I couldn't stop thinking about the story, it really haunted me. The themes of masculinity, nostalgia and betrayal are an intoxicating mix," said Campion to Variety.

https://www.engadget.com/2019/05/30/...t-cumberbatch/

Severe, pale-eyed, handsome, Phil Burbank is brutally beguiling. All of Phil’s romance, power and fragility is trapped in the past and in the land: He can castrate a bull calf with two swift slashes of his knife; he swims naked in the river, smearing his body with mud. He is a cowboy as raw as his hides.

The year is 1925. The Burbank brothers are wealthy ranchers in Montana. At the Red Mill restaurant on their way to market, the brothers meet Rose, the widowed proprietress, and her impressionable son Peter. Phil behaves so cruelly he drives them both to tears, reveling in their hurt and rousing his fellow cowhands to laughter – all except his brother George, who comforts Rose then returns to marry her.

As Phil swings between fury and cunning, his taunting of Rose takes an eerie form – he hovers at the edges of her vision, whistling a tune she can no longer play. His mockery of her son is more overt, amplified by the cheering of Phil’s cowhand disciples. Then Phil appears to take the boy under his wing. Is this latest gesture a softening that leaves Phil exposed, or a plot twisting further into menace?

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Thomasin McKenzie, Frances Conroy, Keith Carradine, Peter Carroll, and Adam Beach