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The Screen Guide

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, revelling 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?

Cast & Crew & Production Details

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Director
Jane Campion
Writers
Jane Campion
Producer
Jane Campion  Tanya Seghatchian  Emile Sherman  Iain Canning  Roger Frappier
Executive Producers
Simon Gillis  Rose Garnett  John Woodward
Dir. of Photography
Ari Wegner
Editor
Peter Sciberras
Production Designer
Grant Major
Cast
Benedict Cumberbatch - Kirsten Dunst - Jesse Plemons - Kodi Smit-McPhee
Production Completion
2021
Genre
Drama
Co-Production
Australia/New Zealand Co-Production
Production Company
See-Saw Productions Pty Ltd  Big Shell Films Pty Ltd  Max Films Productions  Brightstar Films Ltd
International Sales
Cross City Sales Ltd

Screen Australia Supported

  • Development support

Screen News

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23 Nov 2021
By Matthew Jenkin
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Podcast – Cinematographer Ari Wegner ACS on The Power of the Dog

Australian cinematographer Ari Wegner ACS discusses the making of The Power of the Dog, from working with Jane Campion to the New Zealand shoot.

19 Nov 2021
By Caris Bizzaca
Podcast – Nakkiah Lui: creating TV comedy Preppers

Media Releases

Four Australian films selected for Toronto International Film Festival 2021

Four Australian films have been selected for the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival 2021 (TIFF), which will be held next month from 9 to 18 September.

12 Aug 2021