‘The Power of the Dog’: Benedict Cumberbatch Had a Dream Analyst on the Set With Polarizing Results
The Power of the Dog brings viewers to 1925 Montana featuring a pair of wealthy ranch-owning brothers. However, Jane Campion’s tenth feature-length film also requires its cast to transport back to that time period to capture their respective characters. Campion and Benedict Cumberbatch had a dream analyst on the set of The Power of the Dog, and their results were quite polarizing.
Benedict Cumberbatch is getting Oscar buzz for ‘The Power of the Dog’
The Power of the Dog sees Cumberbatch playing Phil Burbank, who is a disagreeable man hiding a plethora of emotion and pain underneath his tough exterior. He bullies a young man named Peter Gordon (Kodi Smit-McPhee). However, when Phil’s brother, George (Jesse Plemons) marries the boy’s mother, Rose (Kirsten Dunst), everything changes.
Campion’s film is getting an abundance of Oscar buzz across several categories. Cumberbatch is particularly getting a lot of attention for his performance as Phil. Critics praise him for portraying a great amount of depth and nuance throughout The Power of the Dog‘s runtime.
Benedict Cumberbatch had a dream analyst on the set for ‘The Power of the Dog’
The Los Angeles Times interviewed Cumberbatch along with Peter Dinklage, Javier Bardem, Andrew Garfield, Jared Leto, and Oscar Isaac. They talked about their films that are all awards contenders, such as The Power of the Dog and Cyrano. Cumberbatch and Leto talked about the nature of working alongside such big-name directors.
The Power of the Dog actor explained how there was a dream analyst on set that worked with both Cumberbatch and Campion. The results were particularly fascinating for one of them.
“One of the things we did together, which was very unexpected, and which she hadn’t done before — testing how brave and open she is to doing things differently every time — we both did this thing with this wonderful acting coach and dream analyst called Kim Gillingham: dream analysis,” Cumberbatch said.
Cumberbatch added: “I had pretty mundane dreams about leaving the keys inside a house, sort of threshold anxieties, really dull stuff. She was dreaming about orchids exploding with blood, typical Jane Campionesque brilliance to it. We both found profound things, which gave us a great deal of confidence.”
‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ is next
Cumberbatch has an array of fascinating projects in the works after The Power of the Dog. He most recently starred as Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Audiences burst into applause seeing his character alongside the iconic web-slinger. However, this isn’t the last time that fans can expect to see him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The actor will return as Doctor Strange in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This will only continue to boost his box office average. Meanwhile, Cumberbatch could potentially end up an Oscar winner after previously getting a nomination for The Imitation Game. However, he lost out to Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything.
The Power of the Dog is now streaming on Netflix.
