Benedict Cumberbatch isnt letting Sam Elliotts critique of The Power of the Dog get him down as he looks forward to the Academy Awards with optimism.

In a video interview for BAFTA Film Sessions , Cumberbatch didnt mention Elliott by name, but nonetheless referenced a very odd reaction that happened the other day on a radio podcast.

Someone really took offense to I havent heard it so its unfair for me to comment in detail on it to the West being portrayed in this way, he said, before stressing that the movie was not a history lesson.

Beyond that reaction, he added, that sort of denial that anybody could have any other than a heteronormative existence because of what they do for a living or where theyre born, theres also a massive intolerance within the world at large towards homosexuality still and toward an acceptance of the other and anything kind of difference.

Netflix s The Power of the Dog stars Cumberbatch as Phil Burbank, a cattle ranch owner in 1920s Montana. Its implied that the sexually repressed Phil had a romantic relationship with another man, Bronco Henry, and is haunted by that memory.

As the story progresses, Phil develops an unlikely friendship with his brothers stepson, Peter Gordon (Kodi Smit-McPhee ), whom he initially mocked for his effeminate mannerisms.

Appearing on Marc Marons WTF podcast last week, Elliott deemed the movie a piece of shit, comparing the look of the male characters to Chippendales dancers and taking issue with its allusions to homosexuality.