John / March 10th, 2020
I’ve added to the gallery two pics of Kirsten & Kodi Smit-McPhee on the ‘Power of the Dog’ filmset in Oamaru on March 4th. Later that day Kirsten, Jesse & Kodi visited Steampunk HQ in Oamaru & I’ve added a pic of them with a member of the Steampunk staff.
John / February 12th, 2020
Jojo Rabbit star Thomasin McKenzie, Kodi Smit-McPhee, & Joker actress Frances Conroy are set to co-star in the Jane Campion-helmed Netflix/See-Saw Films drama, The Power Of The Dog. They join previously announced stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst & Jesse Plemons.
Campion adapted the pic based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Thomas Savage. The plot follows wealthy Montana brothers Phil (Cumberbatch) & George Burbank (Plemons), who are two sides of one coin. Phil is graceful, brilliant & cruel where George is stolid, fastidious & gentle. Together they are joint owners of the biggest ranch in the Montana valley. It is a place where men are still men, the rapidly modernizing 20th century is kept at bay & where the figure of Bronco Henry, the greatest cowboy Phil ever knew, is revered. When George secretly marries local widow Rose (Dunst), a shocked & angry Phil wages a sadistic, relentless war to destroy her entirely using her effeminate son Peter as a pawn.
Keith Carradine (The Old Man and the Gun, Madame Secretary), Peter Carroll (Crazy Rich Asians) & Adam Beach (Hostiles, Suicide Squad) have also been added to the cast.
See-Saw Films’ Emile Sherman & Iain Canning are producing the pic with Roger Frappier of Max Films, Campion (via Big Shell) & Brightstar’s Tanya Seghatchian. Exec producers are BBC Films’ Rose Garnett, See-Saw’s Simon Gillis & Brightstar’s John Woodward.
Netflix, which picked up the worldwide rights to the film at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, will release the film in 2021 in theaters & on its platform. Transmission Films will release the pic theatrically in Australia & New Zealand.
McKenzie, best known for her breakout role in the 2018 film Leave No Trace, is repped by UTA, Untitled Entertainment, Industry Entertainment, & Gail Cowan Management. Smit-McPhee, most recently seen in X-Men: Dark Phoenix & opposite Eddie Murphy in Dolemite Is My Name, is repped by ICM. Conroy is with Paradigm & Echo Lake Entertainment.
Amanda N’Duka, Deadline.com
John / November 22nd, 2019
Jesse Plemons is set to co-star opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst in Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog.”
Plemons is replacing Paul Dano, who was forced to drop out of the movie due to scheduling conflicts with “The Batman,” for which Dano was recently tapped to play the Riddler. Sources say Netflix and Dano’s team tried to work it out but in the end, the scheduling issues were too difficult to overcome.
Netflix acquired the pic this summer from See-Saw Films’ in-house sales arm, Cross City Films. Variety first reported on the project in May and Cross City Films launched sales at the Cannes Film Festival.
Netflix will release the movie in 2021 on the streaming platform and in theaters. Transmission Films will be releasing it theatrically in Australia and New Zealand. The deal excludes United Kingdom TV rights, which are retained by BBC Films.
Campion directed the movie, adapted from the 1967 Thomas Savage novel of the same name. It follows two wealthy brothers who are polar opposites. Plemons portrays a man who is fastidious and gentle, while his brother, played by Cumberbatch, is brilliant and cruel. They are joint owners of the biggest ranch in the Montana valley. When Plemons’ character secretly marries a local widow (Dunst), Cumberbatch wages a sadistic, relentless war to destroy her by using her son.
See-Saw Films and Big Shell Films/Max Films Production are producing the movie in association with Brightstar and BBC Films. The project has been developed with BBC Films, which is also backing production. See-Saw Films’ Emile Sherman and Iain Canning are also producing alongside Max Films’ Roger Frappier, Big Shell’s Campion and Brightstar’s Tanya Seghatchian. BBC Films’ Rose Garnett, See-Saw’s Simon Gillis and Brightstar’s John Woodward are executive producing.
Plemons was most recently seen reprising his role of Todd in the Netflix film “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie,” as well as another Netflix feature, “The Irishman.” He’ll stay busy in 2020, starting with Scott Cooper’s horror movie “Antlers,” Disney’s “The Jungle Cruise” and Charlie Kaufman’s “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.” He is repped by TalentWorks.
Justin Kroll, variety.com
Exciting news. So this is the role Jesse was talking about recently when he said he might possibly be working with Kirsten again.
John / October 30th, 2019
According to unconfirmed reports ‘The Power of the Dog’ will go into production in New Zealand early next year. The film will star Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst & Paul Dano, & will be directed by Jane Campion. Filming is expected to take place in Queenstown & Auckland in January & February 2020.
In other news Kirsten’s fiancee Jesse Plemons gave this reply when asked if he’d like to work with Kirsten again – “I don’t think I can say anything yet, but we might be soon. It’s just a scheduling thing, but I’d love to. And the writers for ‘On Becoming a God in Central Florida’ keep trying to find some part for me to play. But yeah, she’s my favorite. She’s been doing incredible work for a long time, and I just love her in that show”.