The relationship between brothers Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Burbank (Jesse Plemons) in The Power of The Dog is... complicated, to say the least. The film, which recently received 12 Oscar nominations — including best picture and best director — introduces us to the ranch-owning siblings. A decades-old tension simmers between the pair, with Phil trying to assert dominance over their shared territory. Things get even more intense when George marries an inn owner named Rose (Kirsten Dunst, aka Plemons’ wife IRL), bringing her and her son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), into their already-complex family dynamics, with the unpredictable Phil seemingly intent on tormenting them both.
Crafting such a nuanced relationship between two characters is no easy feat, but Cumberbatch and Plemons were given a specific rehearsal technique to help them find their way: dancing.
In a recent interview with Netflix Queue’s Krista Smith, Cumberbatch recounted the way director Jane Campion instructed him and Plemons to dance during rehearsals in order to highlight their individual roles within their relationship: Phil leads as the alpha, and George follows. “That was a brilliant way of her cracking that dynamic open quickly,” Cumberbatch explained, noting that the exercise allowed him and Plemons — whom he describes as “the real deal” — to explore their characters’ history through tangible, concrete actions.
“It’s a nice physical way into what the structure of their relationship was, but also just to feel Jesse’s body, to be close to a man that Phil has grown up with, who he sleeps side by side in the same bed with — we’d know each other’s smells and feel,” Cumberbatch added. “While we both adore each other and really respect each other’s work as actors, it was amazing to have that brotherly proximity just like that.”
Of course, portraying a rancher as proficient as Phil Burbank required a high level of physicality throughout filming as well. In order to fully immerse himself into Phil’s shoes (or, should we say, boots), Cumberbatch spent a great deal of time on a ranch himself to experience his character’s daily life.
“I practiced pretty much everything you see in the film: taking hide and treating it, cutting it, beveling it, strengthening it, lengthening it; and the horseback riding, the roping — learning how to do that,” the actor said. Yet even that road of intense training had its limitations. After all, not many people can say they are as highly skilled as Phil himself, whose personality Cumberbatch described as a great inner conflict that’s “a mixture of fighting and being himself, and also fighting against inauthenticity and being authentic to the way of life that he’s been brought up in.”
But when it comes to ranching, that’s Phil’s true purpose. “He really was an expert in all of these things,” Cumberbatch reflected. “It is just an impossible list to master.”
Check out Krista Smith’s podcast, “Present Company” to listen to her full interview with Cumberbatch.
