On Sunday March 6th, 2022, Kodi Smit-McPhee (X-Men: Apocalypse) spoke to BAFTA personnel about his role in Netflix’s The Power of the Dog, and how exciting he found his character, Peter.
The EE BAFTA Film Awards will take place on Sunday March 13th, at the Royal Albert Hall; Rebel Wilson is to host, and the event will be broadcast on BBC One, BBC One HD and BBC iPlayer at 7:00pm GMT.
Smit-McPhee has been nominated for an Award for Best Supporting Actor thanks to his performance in the Netflix film, which was released in December of last year (2021).
The actor spoke about what drew him to the role in such an interesting film, as well as how his physicality helped him both bring his character to life and allow him to be a more grounded character.
“What attracted me to this was, I guess I loved the idea and the challenge in the way that Peter was so internalised,” began Smit-McPhee when asked about why he was drawn to this role. “He had to kind of leave hints, but without revealing, you know, his plan...”
The actor continued: “if you wanted to go through and watch it again, you could very clearly watch Peter and the things that he's doing and the things that he's planning.
“So I just I liked the two-sided coin in that sense and I liked how well, you know, initially, you know the audience and everyone that's in his presence has initial judgments on him".
The actor went on to explain that, as humans, we can’t help but judge others on first glance, which in terms of other characters' thoughts on Peter, were “quite negative”.
Smit-McPhee continued by saying that Peter “switches that around” rather fast, and that he “turns the tables without changing who he is at all, he just completely revealed his confidence and his intelligence.”
The interview then turned to how Smit-McPhee's physical attributes gave him an advantage to his character, with the actor claiming that, “I guess I related to Peter outside of his more manic and darker elements.”
The Award-nominee then began to speak of his father, and how he grew up. “My dad, he's an actor now, but he got the acting bug because he was a pro wrestler and he did a Burger King commercial or something like that...”
“I grew up around that world covered in tats, all that macho stuff,” continued Smit-McPhee, “For much of my youth I would, you know, look up to him and I would often think, when am I going to kind of get that masculine body of armour? And I never really did, and so I think that was an interesting turning point for me just socially going through school and things like that, realizing that you know I'm this and I have to fully accept that.”
While acknowledging the forms and talents of others in his life, it is clear that Smit-McPhee appreciates what he’s been given, stating that if he were to become anyone else behind the scenes, “it would just be false.”
"I really think, bringing it back to Peter that's just why I related to him and I could easily kind of stand in those shoes.”
The Power of the Dog is on Netflix now, and also stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons.
Watch the trailer for The Power of the Dog below:
Written by Melissa, who you can follow on Twitter @melissajournal
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