Director Jane Campion: "The Strength of the Dog" is excited about the film's return to Hollywood

When Academy Award-winning director Jane Campion signed on to direct the adaptation of Thomas Savage's 1967 novel The Power of the Dog, she was consciously looking for a cinematographer to work with. Above all, Ari Wegner, a name you will hear more often from now on.

It might be 2022, but the combination of director and cinematographer is still a rarity in Hollywood.

The pair team up to create a disturbing and threatening west that explores toxic masculinity, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the sophisticated and ruthless cowboy Phil who forms an unlikely friendship with a younger man, Pete (Cody Smith-McPhee). For many, this recognition of women became a celebration after the so-called "male gaze" had dominated Hollywood for so long.

"It's tough to understand how much you have to believe in the appearance of a woman or a man," she told the news. "I think for me, it's an artist look that brings your sensibilities to the story. [But] I wanted to have a female cinematographer in this film because there are so many other men, and I support women."

Wegner, who has previously worked with Campion on advertising, told the news's culture editor Katie Razal: "There may be an element of gender to it, but it's also about what's important to you, what's your education, what you pay attention to.

"And I think maybe Jane and I look alike, totally blown away by the kind of subtle energy between people and what's not being said."

Campion said he first became involved with the project after meeting Roger Frappier's "feminist" producer.

"I'm so lucky he entrusted me with this story, which you might think is a book for the kind of big guy who would take care of the materials for the ranch—even though I'm on a horse and mine is." parents own livestock—agriculture (Campion grew up in New Zealand).

"In Savage's hands, he ripped it apart and showed us a very true and different version."