Alejandro Inarritu on why The Revenant is a 9 month shoot

February 3rd 2015, 7:18pm

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Even though Alejandro Inarritu might be just a few weeks away from receiving an Oscar for BIRDMAN, the director is hard at work on his next potential winner, THE REVENANT. He and his BIRDMAN cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki are in Calgary Canada, just a few hours from where I’m sitting, filming the drama in what’s said to be an “obscure location”, which likely works well with the 1800s setting.

The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as an American fur trapper who is robbed and left for dead, only to survive and seek vengeance on his attackers. The movie also stars Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, and Will Poulter. Production has been ongoing for some time and has even been shooting in sequence, a rarity with big name stars that might have other obligations. In an interview with Deadline, Inarritu talked about shooting the film a little piece at a time and why it has taken 9 months to shoot:

We don’t finish until the end of April or May, and we are shooting very small hours. It was planned this way, to be little-by-little jewel moments; that’s the way I designed the production. That was both to create intensity in these moments, as well as the climate conditions. We are shooting in such remote far-away locations that, by the time we arrive and have to return, we have already spent 40% of the day. But those locations are so gorgeous and so powerful, they look like they have never been touched by a human being, and that’s what I needed. The light is very reduced here in winter, and we are not shooting with any electrical lighting, just natural light. And every single scene is so difficult — emotionally, technically. I’ve gotten myself in trouble again, but I’m trying my best.

That sounds like a promising and confident way to work doesn’t it? What a risky venture; I can only imagine the conversations he had with the producers and studio convincing them to allow him this freedom. Natural light, great actors and an ambitious director, I’ll take it. THE REVENANT is scheduled to hit theaters on December 25th, 2015.