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Spoilers (15)
Due to production being behind schedule, the snow melted during the location shoot in Canada before filming was complete. With summer rapidly approaching, there was no choice but to relocate the entire production to southern Argentina, where there were similar wintry conditions.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu was insistent that computer-generated imagery not be used to enhance the film, stating, "If we 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."
Leonardo DiCaprio chose to devour a raw slab of bison's liver, even though he is vegetarian. He also had to learn to shoot a musket, build a fire, speak two Native American languages (Pawnee and Arikara), and study with a doctor who specializes in ancient healing techniques. DiCaprio calls it the hardest performance of his career.
Shot chronologically on an 80-day schedule that took place over a total principal photography time period of nine months. This unusually long production time was due to the cold weather conditions, the remoteness of the locations and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu's and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's aesthetic plan to shoot only with natural light for maximum realism. Only a few shooting hours were available every day and had to be carefully planned in advance.
Shot only with natural light but with only one exception, according to cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki: a campfire sequence at night where the wind was causing the fire to pulse in a distracting way. "We had to lay a bunch of light bulbs around the fire to create a cushion of light," Lubezki admits. "That's all the light we used." [16 Dec. 2015, Variety]
Leonardo DiCaprio states in an interview that he had witnessed Arthur RedCloud (Hikuc) eating bison on the set all day. When the scene came for him to eat the bison liver, they gave him a red gelatinous "pancake" that looked so unrealistic that he decided to eat the real thing in the scene. He admitted that he "would never, never do that again."
Tom Hardy has stated that he does not read scripts. At one time, he was due to star in Splinter Cell (2017). He wanted to play a soldier in that film, but Leonardo DiCaprio begged him to read the script for this movie. Hardy read half the script and accepted the role.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu's temperamental nature, along with the high-pressure schedule and unpleasant filming conditions, made it a very difficult shoot and caused several crew members to leave the project or were fired. Iñárritu explained, "As a director, if I identify a violin that is out of tune, I have to take that from the orchestra."
Leonardo DiCaprio was originally approached to star in Steve Jobs (2015) but dropped out to do this film instead.
The very hectic shooting schedule forced Tom Hardy to leave Suicide Squad (2016). Hardy revealed to Collider that the film "...has turned into a much bigger beast than we thought, but that also looks exceptional."
Alejandro G. Iñárritu originally planned to make this film earlier, but when production was delayed because Leonardo DiCaprio was busy starring in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), he made Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014).
The origin of the title is rooted in the French verb "revenir," which means "to return." Revenant in French also means (reverting to) "spirit" or "ghost."
In July 2015 it was reported that the film's budget had ballooned from the original $60 million to $95 million, and by the time production wrapped, it had reached $135 million. Mainly because they had to move production from Canada to Argentina
Leonardo DiCaprio said, in tribute to the filmmakers, that in spite of the extreme suffering his character goes through in the film, and the physical difficulties in making the picture on location, he was never injured for real during the shoot.
Arthur RedCloud (Hikuc) had never appeared in a film before this. He was actually a truck driver from Texas, making a living by transporting oil.
The sign on the hanged Pawnee's body reads, "On est tous des sauvages," which means "We are all savages." Author Stephen Brumwell, in his book, "White Devil: A True Story of War, Savagery And Vengeance in Colonial America," writes (p. 6) that the phrase "Nous sommes tout Sauvages" ["We are all savages"] was graffiti carved into a tree by a Canadian fur trader on the Illinois frontier during the 1680s.
The 1971 film, Man in the Wilderness (1971), starring Richard Harris as Zachary Bass, the man mauled and left for dead, and John Huston as Captain Henry, is based on the same story.
Leonardo DiCaprio's sixth Oscar nomination (and his first-ever win).
Alejandro G. Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki wanted to shoot on 35mm and 65mm film for daylight scenes and digital for night scenes. The 35mm scenes were going to be shot with anamorphic lenses. After testing the Arri Alexa 65 camera, they decided to shoot all-digital, as digital allowed an hour longer of exposure per day during twilight, as well as shoot with spherical lenses only.
Marks Leonardo DiCaprio's feature film role with the fewest words of dialogue.
In 2010 Christian Bale was attached to play Hugh Glass, with John Hillcoat directing.
Some of the filming occurred near Calgary, Canada, where unpredictable chinook winds have produced spring-like conditions in the dead of winter for as long as weather has been recorded. Evidently unaware of these chinooks, Leonardo DiCaprio attributed a sudden thaw to the unprecedented effects of global warming, much to the amusement of locals and Canadian media.
The film was shot in 12 different locations and three different countries: Canada, the US and Argentina. Specifically, Canadian filming took place in British Columbia and Alberta including Squamish, Fortress Mountain, and at Mammoth Studios in Burnaby, British Columbia. While the initial plan was to film entirely in Canada, the weather ended up being too warm, leading the filmmakers to locations at the tip of Argentina, with snow on the ground, to shoot the film's ending.
With this film, Alejandro G. Iñárritu became one of three directors to win consecutive Best Director Oscars. Emmanuel Lubezki, with his third consecutive Best Cinematography Oscar, became the only cinematographer to win three in a row and one of only three people to win three years in the same category consecutively.
Leonardo DiCaprio described the only time the shooting process got so extreme in which he tapped Alejandro G. Iñárritu on the shoulder, when Iñarritu shot a scene with Glass and his son, their teeth chattering in a hailstorm, and the camera froze and it was time to stop.
This film reunites Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy and Lukas Haas, who previously appeared together in Inception (2010).
Alejandro G. Iñárritu defended himself against reports that the production spun out of control, claiming that it was understood from the beginning that the project would be expensive, and that most of the over-budget costs came from schedule delays due to weather.
This film marks the return of composer Ryuichi Sakamoto to Western cinema. He is best known for his Academy Award-, Golden Globe- and Grammy Award-winning musical score for Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor (1987). Sakamoto's last effort in a Hollywood production was Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes (1998).
Kristoffer Joner, portraying Murphy, very much has a secondary role in this film. Strangely, he is one of the biggest grossing stars in Norwegian cinema, most often playing leading roles.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu had stated that he originally wanted to shoot the film chronologically, a process that would have added $7 million to the film's production budget. Iñarritu later confirmed that the film was shot in-sequence, despite Tom Hardy's statement that the film could not be shot chronologically, due to weather conditions.
Development began in August 2001, with producer Akiva Goldsman acquiring the rights to Michael Punke's unpublished manuscript. Dave Rabe has written the film's script.
Leonardo DiCaprio won 32 awards for his performance in this movie, including the coveted Oscar.
Leonardo DiCaprio's Best Actor Oscar win marks the fourth year in a row that the Best Actor Oscar went to an actor playing a real-life person, starting with Daniel Day-Lewis playing Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln (2012), Matthew McConaughey playing Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club (2013), and Eddie Redmayne playing Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything (2014). Additionally, in the most recent three Oscar years, four of the five Best Actor nominees have played real life people.
When Glass is in the abandoned church, there is a mural on the wall. One of the far right images is that of the Hanged Man from the tarot deck (hanging upside-down with legs crossed in a "4" shape), which is symbolic of death and rebirth.
When Arthur RedCloud answered an online casting call for this film, he thought that it was for a small role. He never imagined that the role was a very pivotal one. It wasn't until he was called to Canada to audition for director Alejandro G. Iñárritu and first set foot on set that he realized how important his role really was. He says, "You usually have to get a small part on a major film and then work your way to a huge major role, especially working with a director like that, as well as an actor like Mr. DiCaprio."
Alejandro G. Iñárritu won his second Academy Award for Best Director for this film, his first for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) the previous year, becoming the first director since Joseph L. Mankiewicz (in 1949 and 1950) to win the award in consecutive years.
Arthur RedCloud incorporated the teachings and medicine of his grandfather, who was a shaman, into his character, Hikuc. He himself even built the medicine hut that Hikuc places Glass in from memory of his grandfather's teachings.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu's longest film, at 2 hours and 36 minutes.
This movie joins an exclusive list of films which includes The Pianist (2002) to have captured Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Director and failed to win the Best Picture Award.
In this film Hugh Glass is shown to have had a wife and son, even though there are no historical records of the real Glass having any children or being married. Similarly, in Man in the Wilderness (1971), Zachary Bass, who is also based on Glass, was also shown to have had a wife and son.
Though darker in tone, this film took many cues in approach and is heavily influenced stylistically and visually by two previous works from director Terrence Malick: The Thin Red Line (1998) and The New World (2005). In addition, this film and "The New World": share the same cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki.
The development stalled until 2010, when Mark L. Smith wrote a new adaptation of the novel for Steve Golin's Anonymous Content. In May 2010 Smith revealed that John Hillcoat was attached to direct the film and that Christian Bale was in negotiations to star. Hillcoat left the project in October 2010. Jean-François Richet was considered to replace him, but Alejandro G. Iñárritu signed on to direct in August 2011.
Around the time of the film's initial theatrical release in December 2015, word had spread that Leonardo DiCaprio's character gets raped in the bear attack scene. This turned out to be a total misconception due to some people mistaking some of the bear's movements as sexually aggressive and forceful. This misconception was so prevalent that the parents guide website, Kids-In-Mind.com, had to put a disclaimer notice on top of the content page for this film in stating that the scene doesn't involve rape in any manner. Ironically, this rumor was one of the factors that brought more publicity and public curiosity for the film.
Leonardo DiCaprio has won nearly every award he has been nominated for through his role in this film, including Best Actor at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild.
This film marks the third time that Jacob Tomuri has worked as Tom Hardy's stunt double. The previous films were Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Legend (2015).
Joshua Burge, who plays "Stubby Bill," had never acted in film prior to 2010. His collaborations with director Joel Potrykus were reportedly seen by one of the casting directors, and he was asked to film an audition tape. Shortly after that he was flown to Canada for the duration of the shoot.
Out of his five Oscar-nominated performances, with this performance being his first win, this film marks the third time that Leonardo DiCaprio has appeared naked in his role at one point or another. The other two films are The Aviator (2004) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). Coincidentally, he portrays a real-life person in all three films.
This film's success sparked a growing interest in Man in the Wilderness (1971) which eventually prompted Warner Bros. to release the film on Blu-ray on August 16th, 2016 as part of its Warner Archive Collection.
In the script that was included in the 2007 Black List, Hugh Glass was black. The real Hugh Glass was white.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu sees Hugh Glass as becoming "a man, a beast, a saint, a martyr, a spirit".
Chan-wook Park was interested in directing an adaption of the novel, and he wanted Samuel L. Jackson to star.
The film was the second Leonardo DiCaprio film released in China after Titanic (1997)'s 2012 3D release. However, it was the first DiCaprio film that was released with barely any edits made.
Days after its home video release, the film became one of the top selling DVD and Blu-ray releases as well as one of the top digital streaming films.
Contrary to what the movie portrays the worst thing one can do in cold weather is to get wet. You have zero chance of avoiding hypothermia if you leave wet clothes on in near zero temperature. If you're wet and it's cold you will die. Although it seems counter-intuative you must remove all wet clothing as soon as possible. Artistic license and cinematographry rules when shooting films.
Reunites Paul Anderson and Tom Hardy, who both starred in the British television series Peaky Blinders (2013) and the movie Legend (2015).
Alejandro G. Iñárritu has said that his shooting of this film was influenced and inspired by Andrei Rublev (1966), Dersu Uzala (1975), Apocalypse Now (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972).
Worldview Entertainment was originally set to fund the film but backed out in July 2014, due to the departure of CEO 'Christopher Woodrow' (Iqv). New Regency approached 20th Century-Fox for additional funding, but the company declined, citing the pay-or-play contracts made for both Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.
The film stayed at the top spot for DVD and Blu-ray sales for about a month until Deadpool (2016) took its place. Coincidentally, both films are distributed by 20th Century-Fox and are rated R.
Jean-François Richet was considered to direct.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon were the only two 2016 Best Actor Oscar nominees who were also given nominations for Best Male Performance for the 2016 MTV Movie Awards for The Revenant (2015) and The Martian (2015), respectively. DiCaprio took home both awards.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy's second film together.
This film and Man in the Wilderness (1971) are loosely based on incidents in the life of real trapper/mountain man Hugh Glass and each featured an actor who appeared in the Harry Potter movie series. Domhnall Gleeson, who portrays Captain Andrew Henry in this film, portrayed Bill Weasley in the final two Harry Potter films, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011). Richard Harris, who portrayed Zachary Bass in Man in the Wilderness (1971), portrayed Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), before he passed away in late 2002 and was replaced by Michael Gambon for the rest of the series.
This film marks the second time that Christopher Hickson has worked as Leonardo DiCaprio's body double. The first time was for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).
Spoilers
Although inspired by true events (a trapper called Hugh Glass was in fact attacked by a bear and left for dead out in the open in the middle of the summer by two of his fellow trappers), the movie takes very extensive liberties with its depiction of these events. The two biggest and most crucial departures from reality may be the main character's motivation (since in reality the trappers never killed his son) and the ending (since the real Hugh Glass never took his revenge, but instead forgave the two trappers who left him for dead).
The bear mauling scene was filmed with Leonardo DiCaprio being tugged side to side with cables.
While the movie ends ambiguously as to Glass's fate, in reality he lived another ten years and died in an Arikara attack along the Yellowstone River.
When Glass battles with the bear he initially injures it with a gunshot wound to its left side until finally defeating it with multiple stab wounds. This is mirrored in the final showdown with Fitzgerald in which Glass shoots him in his left shoulder but ultimately defeats him with a knife.
The climactic fight between Glass and Fitzgerald was filmed in the southern tip of Argentina. Production had to be moved to the southern hemisphere where there was snow in July.
The story goes that Hugh Glass did indeed hunt down the two men who left him for dead. However, he didn't kill either one of them, for very different reasons. He forgave Jim Bridger in person (who later became a hugely accomplished trapper in his own right) because of Bridger's youth and the fact that Fitzgerald had lied about how Glass was left for dead (this is reflected in the movie when Glass firmly tells the Captain that Bridger is not responsible for what happened to him). He only forgave Fitzgerald because A) the punishment for killing an active duty army soldier, which Fitzgerald still was when Glass confronted him, was death by hanging and B) he demanded and received his rifle back from Fitzgerald. At that point, Glass refused to speak to or acknowledge Fitzgerald and simply left the area immediately.
In the movie Hugh Glass is portrayed as being hostile to the French fur traders. However, in the novel, Glass is in fact assisted by the French in his travels to Fort Kiowa, although the majority of them were later slaughtered by the Arikara.
Although Glass' fate is ambiguous at the end of the film, a popular theory holds that he lives; as shown by the sound of his breathing during the credits. Several times throughout the movie members of the Glass family say that "If you can grab breath, you can keep fighting."
The story that Leonardo DiCaprio slept in the gutted carcass of an actual horse during the shoot was not true. Producer Steve Golin clarified this during a producers' round table interview with "The Hollywood Reporter", conducted by editors Stephen Galloway and Matt Belloni. In actuality, the sequence took about two hours to film, with DiCaprio inhabiting a prosthetic carcass.
Glass didn't just get better after the grizzly attack, while tracking down Fitzgerald and Bridger to seek his revenge. He made his way, sometimes crawling, to the expedition's original jumping-off point, near what's now Chamberlain, South Dakota, far to the east of the attack site. He recovered over a period of months and only then started back west, searching for the two men who had left him.
The plot is inspired by true events, but often barely follows them. Hugh Glass was attacked by a grizzly in August 1823 in an area now in north-northeast South Dakota, near the present town of Shadehill. There's even a Hugh Glass Recreation Area there. The area is slightly hilly, Great Plains prairie. That region is 2000-2500 feet above sea level, and the average temperatures in August vary from 55-90 degrees. The closest place with anything resembling a mountain is an overland direct-line trek of 130-150 miles, in the Black Hills. August temperatures there range from 55-85 degrees, and at 7000-8000 feet the Black Hills are nothing like the mountains in the movie. The nearest mountains remotely like the movie's are the Bighorns in Wyoming, which are almost 300 miles away and still have August temperatures in the 55- to 85-degree range. At the time Glass was attacked there wasn't any snow, no one was close to freezing and no one was anywhere near terrain like that shown in the film.
Leonardo DiCaprio's third film that feature his character having dreams and illusions of his deceased wife. See also Inception (2010) and Shutter Island (2010).
The mountain man Jim Bridger is also referenced in another movie, Inglourious Basterds (2009). In that movie, Brad Pitt's character is said to be a descendant of the mountain man Jim Bridger.
Although the film has Andrew Henry being killed by Fitzgerald, the real life Henry retired from the fur trading business in 1824 and lived until 1832.
Though this film and Man in the Wilderness (1971) are technologically shot and rendered in different formats, they have some similar cinematographic techniques. These include the uses of low angles, canted/Dutch Tilt angles, extreme long shots, handheld shots, and worm's-eye view shots. Despite the differing tones, these techniques were used to give each film a visceral, mysterious, abstract and disoriented feel to express the main character's struggle for survival.