Not surprisingly Dunst and Plemons both relished the chance to reteam for The Power of the Dog, which premieres on Netflix Dec. 1. They once again play husband and wife, well-meaning rancher George and the recently widowed single mother Rose, whose new marriage is threatened by George’s cruel and manipulative brother, played by Benedict Cumberbatch.
“I mean, when I watch Jesse and I on the mountaintop, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, we’re so dorky,’ because we have to act so reserved with each other, and we have a child together,” Dunst, who called working with director Campion a “lifelong dream,” said on The Envelope, “It’s just funny to pretend there’s no history with someone you have a tremendous amount of history with. It’s just weird.”
“Maybe if we were alone on the mountaintop and like having, like, I don’t know, a nice cocktail, it’d be great,” she continued. “But it was just like, he’s in his little outfit and I’m teaching him how to waltz, and it’s all really old-timey and cute. But also his line when he’s like, ‘It’s just so nice to not be alone” is, I think, one of the best lines of the film. When he did that, I cried off camera. I was just—I was so moved by his performance that day. And also I feel I wasn’t that good of a dance teacher. That waltz. I mean, I got it together. I did it. I figured out how to teach him.”