Cumberbatch swaps Marvel cloak for cowboy horse in Power Of The Dog

He’s best known to superhero fans around the world as Doctor Strange, al ading star of the multi-billion grossing Marvel films

But Benedict Cumberbatch relished stepping into the arthouse world of The Power Of The Do omplete with a painstakingly recreated 1920s Montana cowboy ranch — for his latest Oscar-tipped film, he told the Toronto film festival ecently.

“To play omething as diverse as those two characters are, apart from each other, is fantastic,” said Cumberbatch. “I loved swapping the cloak for a horse.”

Doctor Strange’s trademark cloak will be next seen in the Spider-Man movie No Way Home in December, whileCumberbatch is also starring in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness in March.

But far away from the world of blockbuster franchises, The Power Of TheDog — out on Netflixfrom Dec 1 — is alreadyseen as an early frontrunner for next year’s Academy Awards.

Based on a novel about a closeted cowboy, it earned rave reviews at the Venice and Telluride festivals before moving onto Toronto.

Its selection inmultiple majorfestival line-ups is itself an indicator of likely success — last year’s best picture Nomadland toured the major autumn events that went ahead.

So is the presence of director Jane Campion. The NewZealander was only the second woman ever nominated for the best directing Oscar with 1993’s The Piano, and The Power Of The Dog is her first feature in more than a decade.

“It’s quite far away from my normal wheelhouse and I was just thrilled that someone as mad as Jane wanted me to do it!” said former Sherlock star Cumberbatch, who learnt to ride horses and rope steers, play the banjo and blow a piercing cowboy whistle for the part.

He paid tribute to Campion as “this amazingly strong woman, in a very male-dominated world — this person who has this incredible weight of work”.

The film is Campion’s first to feature a male protagonist, something the director has said she felt freed up to do after the #MeToo movement paved the way for more female-centred movies elsewhere in Hollywood.

Toxic masculinity, as well as sexual repression, is a key theme of the film with Cumberbatch’s sadistic, sinister ranch owner Phil Burbank disguising his own sexuality behind a constant barrage of homophobic taunts and insults towards others.

Burbank also terrorises and pours malicious scorn on the widow (Kirsten Dunst) who has married his more congenial brother (Jesse Plemons) — driving her to alcoholism — and her effeminate son (Kodi Smit-McPhee).

“Phil’s tragedy is he can’t be his authentic self, in the time he’s in but also the culture he’s in,” said Cumberbatch. “It is a tragedy of intolerance in many ways.”