Benedict Cumberbatch film The Power Of The Dog to premiere at LFF

Jane Campion’s eagerly anticipated The Power Of The Dog, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, will premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.

The movie, which also stars Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst and Kodi Smit-McPhee, will be the American Express headline gala on October 11.

It will screen at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, with Campion expected to attend alongside key members of the cast.

Based on the 1967 novel by Thomas Savage and adapted for the screen by The Piano director Campion, the film tells the story of Phil Burbank, played by Cumberbatch, a charismatic rancher who inspires fear and awe in those around him.

When his brother brings home a new wife and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.

Campion, who was the second woman in history to be nominated for the best director Oscar and the first female filmmaker to receive a Palme d’Or from the Cannes Film Festival, won the best original screenplay Academy Award for The Piano in 1994.

She said: “I am thrilled to share The Power Of The Dog at the LFF.

“It will be an honour to be there along with so many of my British team members, large amongst them the brilliant Benedict Cumberbatch who is the broken heart and dark soul of this story.”

Tricia Tuttle, director of the BFI London Film Festival director, said: “Jane Campion is one of the world’s great filmmakers.

“An artist with the ability to get under your skin, make you see things in people and situations you would otherwise miss.

“And that is so true of The Power Of The Dog.

“It’s a sumptuous new work with many delicately revealed surprises, not least a deliciously dark performance from Benedict Cumberbatch.

“It’s such a pleasure to have Campion return to the LFF with our American Express Gala.”

The BFI London Film Festival will run from October 6 to October 17.