Jane Campion’s Gothic Western “The Power of the Dog” led the Oscars nominations on Feb. 8, as the Netflix film fended off big-screen studio movies from a year in which COVID-weary audiences slowly headed back into theaters.
The eerie, psychological drama about a repressed 1920s cattle rancher in Montana earned 12 nods ahead of next month’s Oscars gala, including best director, making Campion the first female auteur nominated twice in Academy Award history.
“The Power of the Dog” was also nominated for best picture, and landed acting nods for Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Campion was last nominated 28 years ago for “The Piano.”
“I’m so deeply honored. And over the moon to say the least that we were all recognized for our work together,” Smit-McPhee said.
Its nominations include:
- Best Picture
- Best Director – Jane Campion
- Best Actor – Benedict Cumberbatch
- Best Supporting Actress – Kirsten Dunst
- Best Supporting Actor – Jesse Plemons
- Best Supporting Actor – Kodi Smit-McPhee
- Best Adapted Screenplay
- Best Cinematography
- Best Film Editing
- Best Original Score
- Best Sound
- Best Production Design
This marks the first Oscar nomination for Dunst after a long, illustrious Hollywood career, as well as a first for Oscars newcomers Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Benedict Cumberbatch has now been nominated twice, his first coming for the Alan Turing biopic, The Imitation Game, in 2015. Jane Campion looks to make history as the first woman director to be nominated twice and the first woman to win both Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay. Her win for Best Original Screenplay and nomination for Best Director came in 1994 for The Piano. Should Campion nab the Best Director win, she’d only be the third woman in history to do so. Campion is highly expected to nab both the nomination and wins in both of those categories this year.
