Leonardo DiCaprio Hypes THE REVENANT, Talks About Facing Off With STAR WARS

I have a very good feeling about The Revenant, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's desolate revenge drama starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. The film looks breathtaking, as well it should considering it was shot by Gravity, Birdman, and Children of Men cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezski in real locations using only natural light. If you haven't seen the most recent trailer, you should definitely check it out.

In a new interview with Yahoo Movies, DiCaprio — who plays a trapper left for dead by his crew after a bear attack — says the movie is "going to be one of the most unique film-going experiences that audiences have seen in modern times," which is quite a proclamation. But having seen the trailers, I believe it. In addition to talking about film vs. television and some of the well-publicized behind-the-scenes drama about some crew members bailing on the production, the actor discussed the incredible-looking bear attack sequence:

Well, I’m not going to give any specifics on how we did it — you’ll figure it out on your own. But I will tell you it involved cables, it involved me flying around the forest, and it involved a tremendous amount of rehearsal. And it was pretty agonizing to do. [Those scenes] — amongst many other sequences — were some of the more difficult things I’ve ever had to do in my entire career. But the end result is going to be one of the most immersive experiences audiences will ever have with what it would be like to come face-to-face with an animal of that magnitude that is incredibly primal. It is absolutely startling and shocking, and it is the closest thing to documentary filmmaking — but in a completely stylized way that a lot of people never experienced.

DiCaprio, a vegetarian, also had to endure some pretty extreme eating on the set:

Were there any moments where you asked yourself, “What the hell have I gotten into?”
I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. Whether it’s going in and out of frozen rivers, or sleeping in animal carcasses, or what I ate on set. [I was] enduring freezing cold and possible hypothermia constantly.
What did you have to eat during it?
I certainly don’t eat raw bison liver on a regular basis. When you see the movie, you’ll see my reaction to it, because Alejandro kept it in. It says it all. It was an instinctive reaction.

And finally, here's what he said when he was asked about his movie coming out around the same time as Star Wars: The Force Awakens:

There’s always room at the top. I’m going to be in line for Star Wars as well. What’s great about this time of year is, as you know, they save the best for last in most cases. And hopefully, it just means more people are excited to go to the movies. I think that people know this time of year is where a lot of great pieces of art are going to come out. I would never think that we’d be able to compete with Star Wars — that’s something that’s embedded in our cultural DNA. But I think when people begin to hear about this movie, they’ll want to go see it. And that’s all we can hope for.

You should read the whole interview if you have a minute.

Are you excited about The Revenant?

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