‘Behind the Scenes With Jane Campion’ on Netflix Will Convince You She Deserves the Oscar

We’re less than a week away from the 94th Academy Awards, and despite a late-stage challenge from CODA, odds are still looking favorable for Jane Campion‘s brooding western, The Power of the Dog to win the Oscar for, if not Best Picture, then at least Best Director.

In case you are an Oscar voter—or just a fan with an Oscar ballot—who needs convincing that Campion deserves one or more of those wins, you simply must watch Behind the Scenes with Jane Campion on Netflix, a 17-minute making-of documentary that takes you inside the production of The Power of the Dog, and, as a result, feels like watching history in the making.

Accompanied by Jonny Greenwood’s moody, rustic score, the special starts with a voice-over from Campion herself, with her New Zealand accent, explaining the basis of her movie: Thomas Savage’s semi-autobiographical 1967 novel of the same name. “He really did live on that ranch in Montana, and he did have the demonic step-uncle, and he was himself a gay boy,” Campion says, while we get a glimpse of the process of transforming the New Zealand landscape into a Montana ranch, as well as Campion’s notes and storyboards for the film.

Even more interesting, though, is the chance to see how Campion interacts with her actors on set. She asks Jesse Plemons to “pop on his hat” and tells the young Kodi Smit-McPhee to “have a little play in his space.” She directs Benedict Cumberbatch to “let go of the frown, and open up his face completely.” All the actors obey her to the best of their abilities, and you get the sense that everyone is taking this as seriously as they can; that they all want to do everything they can to transform into these characters that Campion imagines. It’s clear she has a specific vision—for Phil, especially—and it’s the mark of a great director.

Later, we see her giving her actors notes on specific scenes—like advising Cumberbatch that Phil is “conning” his nephew-in-law in the scene at the camp, when he first tries to make nice with young Peter. Or, how nervous Campion was to film the scene with Kirsten Dunst and Plemons dancing on the hill.

And, near the end of the special, you’ll hear Campion confess that she herself was traumatized by a “secretly vicious nanny” growing up. This nanny watched her and her siblings when Campion was between 5 and 10 years old, she said. “She secretly did things to us, like beat us with a horsewhip if we didn’t do what we were told, and would make swear never to tell our parents,” Campion said. “She would tell us, ‘If you say anything, I’m going to tell them that you’re liars.'” The experience helped her relate to Peter, she said. “I did know that feeling of being in the house and always knowing where this woman was.”

Netflix movies, while certainly convenient to watch, come with the downside of depriving viewers of DVD extras and bonus content more often than not. As a lover of all things behind-the-scenes, I couldn’t be happier to see the streaming service step up to provide this documentary. If Behind the Scenes with Jane Campion doesn’t convince you this woman deserves an Oscar, I don’t know what will.

Watch The Power of the Dog on Netflix

Watch Behind the Scenes with Jane Campion on Netflix