Jesse Plemons Talks About The Time That Benedict Cumberbatch’s Method Acting Pissed Him Off On “The Power Of The Dog” Set

January 14, 2022 / Posted by:

Benedict Cumberbatch went full method for The Power Of The Dog and he almost killed himself via nicotine poisoning three times. But it’s all for the Oscar ART! And while Benedict’s acting is getting great reviews, his process didn’t go over well all the time. Benedict plays Phil Burbank in The Power of the Dog–based on Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel about a 1920s Montana rancher–and he’s described as a “brutal ranch owner” so, of course, his assholery spilled out onto the rest of the cast. Co-star of the film, Jesse Plemons, who plays his brother, says that Benedict pissed him off when he basically called him fat. Well hey, at least Benedict didn’t lean into the ginger angle too.

Benedict tells Variety that his method antics started on day one when director Jane Campion introduced him as his character Phil, via IndieWire:

“This is Phil. You’re going to be working with Phil. Benedict is really nice but you’re going to me meet him at the end of the shoot.” That just gave me permission to commit to this character whose behavior is at times repugnant, and not feel apologetic or embarrassed or self-conscious about it in any way.”

Benedict remained in character for the full three months of shooting in New Zealand, so I can only imagine the gum damage he did with all that smoking. I wonder if he does this method shit for the Dr. Strange movies because that would be hilarious watching Benedict pretend he had magic like his ass is Charmed. And there was one time when Benedict went too far with Jesse:

Jesse Plemons said that he was caught off guard by his co-star’s intensity on set, notably during an incident when Cumberbatch made a comment about his weight, which he said “pissed me off.” “There was one time he got under my skin,” the actor told Variety. “He was like, “Hey, big boy.” It wasn’t “fatso.” I feel like a few people in life have been like, “Hey, big boy,” and I was like, “Goddamn it. What the fuck.””

But Jesse says that Benedict later apologized and all is good:

…Plemons counts himself among the fans of Cumberbatch’s performance, and harbors no hard feelings about the incident. He said that his co-star later tried to apologize for the incident. “He was like, “I’m so sorry,”” Plemons said. “I was like, “No, don’t worry. It was great.””

Compared to Lady Gaga and Jared Leto’s method fuckery on the set of House of Gucci, this doesn’t seem that bad. If Jesse was in House of Gucci, he probably would’ve quit on day one when Jared Leto came up to him and said, “Oh-uh, look at-uh yew, yew spicy-uh meatball bambino.”

Pic: Netflix

Our commenting rules: Don't be racist or bigoted, or post comments like "Who cares?", or have multiple accounts, or repost a comment that was deleted by a mod, or post NSFW pics/videos/GIFs, or go off topic when not in an Open Post, or post paparazzi/event/red carpet pics from photo agencies due to copyright infringement issues. Also, promoting adblockers, your website, or your forum is not allowed. Breaking a rule may result in your Disqus account getting permanently or temporarily banned. New commenters must go through a period of pre-moderation. And some posts may be pre-moderated so it could take a minute for your comment to appear if it's approved. If you have a question or an issue with comments, email: michaelk@dlisted.com

src="https://c.statcounter.com/922697/0/f674ac4a/1/"
alt="drupal analytics" >