Where was The Power of the Dog filmed? All the Locations in Beech & Herndon, Montana

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The Power of the Dog was entirely filmed in New Zealand, although the movie is set in the open spaces of rural Montana in 1925.

Most of the shoots on location took place in the plains and spectacular mountains in Central Otago on the South Island, a striking landscape widely used in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.

The Power of the Dog Location

According to the New Zealand Film Commission, the shoot on the South Island (including the ranch, Beech, and Herndon in Montana) took 27 days, and 23 days in the studio in Auckland on the North Island.

The story, based on the 1968 novel by Thomas Savage, revolves around the Burbank brothers, George and Phil, two wealthy ranchers who are as different as night and day.

Benedict Cumberbatch as Phil Burbank

The film features outstanding cinematography and a great selection of stars including Benedict Cumberbatch as the alpha male Phil, Jesse Plemons as George, Kirsten Dunst as his new wife Rose Gordon, and Kodi Smit-McPhee as her bullied son, Peter Gordon.

Welcome to the best guide to the filming locations of The Power of the Dog that you can find.

The Power of the Dog house
The Otago Daily Times reported that the Burbank Ranch and the Western-style barn were built in a remote area in the Maniototo region.

The spot was located "not far from the Falls Dam and Hills Creek, just down the road from St Bathans and over the hill from Ranfurly".
(You can open all the locations on Google Maps by clicking on the links below in the captions ↴)
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map


The Burbank Ranch
If you've ever driven in this lesser-known area of the South Island, you may have noticed that the scenery allows you to shoot 360° in every direction, almost without seeing any trace of civilization.

The top of the Burbank's ranch house was added in post-production using CGI.


Beech Montana
Production Designer Grant Major created 15 location sets built on location from scratch, including the Red Mill Hotel in the small settlement of Beech, Montana.


Cattle ranch lasso from rawhide
The eye-catching mountain with the dog-shaped shadow in the nearby hills of the ranch is the distinctive flat-topped Hawkdun Range (6066 ft - 1849m).

The crew dismantled all the sets once filming at the property was done.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map


The house interior set
The house interior was built on sound stages in Auckland, along with 24 additional studio sets featured in the film.

Most of the furniture was shipped to New Zealand from several prop houses in Los Angeles.

The local New Zealand woods are much more bright and the design of the period interiors are quite different from the traditional ones in the American West.


Where was The Power of the Dog filmed
The scenic road with sharp boulders scattered around doesn't look much like Montana, as it recalls the distinctive Lord of the Rings landscapes.

In Atlas of Wonders, we reckon that these scenes were recorded at Bonspiel Station near the Poolburn Reservoir, a spot that served as the LOTR Rohan's Westfold locations.

The area also looks like the rocks at the Strath Taieri valley located in the same area near Dunedin where some scenes of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey were filmed.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map


The Power of the Dog city
Not long after they’re married, Rose and George are alone on a hillside where she teaches him a few dance steps. This scene was filmed on Queenstown Hill road, with Cecil Peak as the backdrop.

Queenstown Hill is located overlooking the city of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. However, both the lake and the city situated below were out of the shot, so in the movie, it seems that the couple is alone on an isolated landscape.

Actors Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, who are a real-life couple, also played husband and wife in the TV show Fargo.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map


Dunedin Railway Station
The scene where George picks up his parents at the train station was filmed at the magnificent Dunedin Railway Station.

Opened in 1906, this ornate Flemish-Renaissance style building is one of the South Island’s most prominent architectural landmarks.
Image courtesy of Netflix and Katja Schulz - Map


Herndon montana
The scenes in the fictional town of Herndon, Montana, were filmed in Tyne and Harbour Streets at Oamaru's Victorian Precinct.

This neighborhood in Oamaru's harbor has preserved many 19th-century buildings constructed in local white limestone.

The Criterion Hotel, pictured on the right, doubled as the Emerton Hotel.

This area was also featured as a street in the fictional Kingdom of Lavania in the Netflix 2022 movie The Royal Treatment.
Image courtesy of Netflix and Google Maps


Manuherikia River
The scenes in the river were probably filmed at Manuherikia River in Central Otago.

The New Zealand Film Commission also reported that the production was shot in the Lindis Valley area.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map


Bannockburn Sluicings
The scene where Peter goes on a solo ride and comes across a diseased cattle carcass was filmed at the Bannockburn Sluicings Historic Reserve near the town of Cromwell.

This desertic area, made by gold miners who shaped the terrain by blasting water at the hills to release the gold, seems truly out of the Wild West.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map


Wo wurde The Power of the Dog gedreht
The short funeral scene was filmed at the Puhoi Centennial Hall in Puhoi, a small village located about 31 miles (50 km) north of Auckland on the North Island.

This historic community hall opened in 1900 was built by German-speaking settlers from a region in Bohemia that is now part of the Czech Republic.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Map


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3 comments:

1- Anonymous - Dec 27, 2021, 13:41 AM
This is intriguing because I had previously read this was filmed in and around Great Falls, MT, and knowing the Montana/Wyoming border felt it looked similar but somehow different, which is why I looked into it.

2- Mike - Feb 8, 2022, 12:22 PM
My stepkids live in Butte, Montana, and were involved as extras in this movie! However, they clearly didn’t make it to the final cut as there are no scenes they could be in. I wonder which part of the movie could possibly have been filmed in Montana? Everything I read says New Zealand but clearly, at one point they were filming in Montana or these kids would not have been extras!

3- Anonymous - Sep 19, 2022, 2:28 PM
The environments mentioned above were also digitally altered with visual effects. The Power of the Dog also did some location scouting in Montana, so they may have planned to shoot it there before Covid hit.


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