Jane Campion received the Academy Award for Best Director, for her work in The power of the dog.
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Jane Campion received the Academy Award for Best Director, for her work in The power of the dog.
Neilson Barnard / Getty Images
Jane Campion won this year’s Academy Award for Best Director for Leading the Drama West The power of the dog. She is currently the third woman director to win an Oscar, after Kathryn Bigelow (2010–2012). Wound Locker) and Chloé Zhao (in 2021 for Wandering).
Campion also wrote the screenplay based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Thomas Savage. The story, set in 1925, follows two Montana ranchers: Benedict Cumberbatch plays an evil cowboy, complicated and furious when his brother (Jesse Plemons) brings home a wife (Kirsten). Dunst) and her son (Kodi Smit-McPhee). All four were nominated for top acting Oscars.
“I’m not telling one of those old Western stories,” she told NPR. “You know, from deep in mythology, where it’s really just been told from a kind of alpha male perspective.”
The 67-year-old director shot the film on location in New Zealand, where she was born. She told NPR that she loved cowboys and cowboy stories as a girl. “We used to organize the vegetable boxes like the horses, then sit on them and ride and pretend we were riding through the American West.”
In 1993, Campion directed Piano, the film won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, making her the first woman to win the award. The film won three Academy Awards, including best original screenplay for Campion, best actress for Holly Hunter, and best supporting actress for Anna Paquin. Campion was also nominated for Best Director, but lost it to Steven Spielberg for Schindler’s List.
Campion has been the category leader throughout this awards season. She has won top awards at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and a Directing Guild Award. Two weeks ago, she caused a stir at the Critics’ Choice Awards with comments about tennis superstar Venus and Serena Williams, the film’s executive producer. King Richardtell their family’s origin story.
“You guys are amazing,” she told the sisters during her acceptance speech.
Campion has faced backlash from many who have pointed out, for one thing, that the Williams sisters can perfectly compete with men. Campion apologized the next day, saying in a statement, “I made a thoughtless comment by equating what I do in the world of cinema with all that Serena Williams and Venus Williams have achieved. okay. I have no intention of devaluing these two legendary black women and the world-class athletes.”
