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DiCaprio Goes Through “Living Hell” For The Revenant

In director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s highly anticipated new film The Revenant, Leo DiCaprio and the crew were subjected to some of the most brutal conditions ever encountered on a movie set. The film was shot in the Canadian tundra, where temperatures plunged to minus 25 degrees C, which made almost every aspect of shooting the film extremely difficult. Numerous crew members walked off the job over the conditions, but Iñárritu had a vision and he stuck to it.

It’s true that he could have used CGI to save his cast and crew from the harsh Canadian temperature extremes and back country locales, but the director who won the Oscar for his film Birdman, went through the suffering like everyone else. He claims that the final product was worth all the misery. “When you see the film, you will see the scale of it,” said Iñárritu. “And you will say, ‘Wow.’”

He claimed that if had he used CGI that he would have “ended up in greenscreen with coffee and everybody having a good time, everybody will be happy, but most likely the film would be a piece of shit.” However, some of the people involved said making the film had been the worst experience of their careers, even though they predicting awards-season recognition for the Mexican director and his cast, which includes Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.

The Revenant is based on an incident that happened to frontiersman Hugh Glass (DiCaprio), who was mauled by a grizzly bear during a fur-trapping expedition in 1823. Glass was robbed by his fellow trappers and left for dead, but he somehow lived through it and vowed to get revenge on the men who betrayed him.

The Revenant premiere and after party, thankfully, will be taking place in the ever-pleasant confines of temperate Los Angeles on December 16. If you’d like to attend, you don’t have to suffer a Canadian winter. You merely have to visit the VIP Concierge’s site  and do a little shopping from the comfort of your cozy home.

There was also financial suffering by cast members as co-star Tom Hardy was forced to drop out of the much-ballyhooed Warner Brothers gathering of supervillains Suicide Squad after a break in Revenant production was extended from two to four weeks. And even though Canada was plenty cold, there wasn’t enough snow for Iñárritu’s taste, so production was moved to Argentina. Additionally, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki’s dogged determination to only shoot in natural light and in chronological sequence caused several production delays.

One controversial shot in which an actor was dragged along the ground naked was handled by Iñárritu with understanding, who denied reports that the actor was in pain. The director said, “I asked him several times, ‘Are you fine?’ “I was super-considerate because he was a nice, 22-year-old guy.” Supposedly, the actor said he was ready for the next take. Iñárritu also disagreed with comments that he was indecisive on set, which led to a disgruntled crew due to several sudden schedule changes. “That’s part of the process,” Iñárritu said. “It’s about incredible precision. … It’s not easy. You have to be sculpting, sculpting, sculpting until you have it.”

Iñárritu did admit that the extreme weather did cause problems during the shoot. “Everybody was frozen, the equipment was breaking; to get the camera from one place to another was a nightmare,” he said. But he pointed out that there were no serious injuries on set and insisted safety was always prioritized.

DiCaprio signed on to the film well aware of the brutal challenges that faced him. He had to eat raw elk liver, and it wasn’t faked. He ate the real thing so his true reaction to the repulsive meal was captured. He also said that films like this never get made because people are afraid to put themselves in such a position and financiers are loathe to back it.

However, financier Brad Weston of production company New Regency said that although The Revenant was a “tough movie,” everybody involved knew what they were getting into. New Recency has also filmed in locations like Santa Clarita. Iñárritu had the entire team’s support, and that he for one, would have no qualms backing another of Iñárritu’s projects.

If this sounds like your slice of raw elk liver, then by all means pick up some tickets to the world premiere and after party. Maybe you’ll get to meet members of the cast and crew who can tell you their own harrowing tales of the shoot during the well-deserved bash after the film’s showing.

DiCaprio Goes Through “Living Hell” For The Revenant

One comment

  1. It sounds terrific. My dear friend Scott Wilk turned me onto it.
    Most Best Regards,
    Roger Ciszon

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About Mitch Karratti