The Revenant (2015) (1 Viewer)

Frontiersman Hugh Glass goes west in 1822 in the employ of Captain Andrew Henry to do some fur trapping and sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-leonardo-dicaprios-revenant-shoot-810290


"Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as early 19th century explorer Hugh Glass, Revenant went into production in September and was supposed to wrap in March. But cameras still will be rolling into August as the budget has climbed well past $95 million, with insiders predicting it will reach or exceed $135 million. Crewmembers say they have seen huge turnover, including many who were fired and others who quit. They say the behind-the-scenes drama led Inarritu to bar producer Jim Skotchdopole, who worked with him on Birdman, from the set."

I have to say the word on the making of this film has me fascinated. This sounds like Inarritu has gone all Michael Cimino and is blowing up the budget on this, pissing off producers, firing people, injuring people to get what he wants, and claiming this is all in order to achieve that little bit of magic known as a major motion picture. He has dragged the production from one end of the earth to the other, LITERALLY, in a search for the right snow and the right light and created working conditions his crew have termed "a living hell."


Frankly, I did not think they allowed directors to run amok like this anymore in search of ART...but somehow Alejandro has been doing so...and word is his film is going to be the years greatest spectacle because of it. I'm pretty darn excited this sounds like it will be flat out amazing even if he risked tearing off an actors genitals to get what he wanted.

The trailer hooked me, looks good. I had no idea about the bts drama, now I'm really intrigued.

$135 million?! Nothing about that trailer or the film's description makes me think this will get anywhere near DJANGO UNCHAINED numbers, to name a recent DiCaprio hit which shares with this film a western theme and snow scenes.

Sounds like someone's Oscar went to their head, big time.

Chris Will said:

The trailer hooked me, looks good. I had no idea about the bts drama, now I'm really intrigued.

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Yes, I agree the trailer looks great and there obviously should be a book and documentary made about the making of this film. Plus I mean we don't get films made like this anymore. He insisted on no CGI (because he said that would make the film suck, ha!) and is shooting this film in horrible conditions outdoors so this hearkens back to the days of Apocalypse Now, Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, and of course Heaven's Gate where these guys go off into some remote natural setting to shoot a film and go, you know, a little native or nuts while they are there.


But the films that came out of these excursions are really amazing and you could not get them any other way. Honestly, this kind of filmmaking seemed dead at this point with anything like this done either on a very small scale or with CGI. So, this film is at the top of my most anticipated list.

Vic Pardo said:

$135 million?! Nothing about that trailer or the film's description makes me think this will get anywhere near DJANGO UNCHAINED numbers, to name a recent DiCaprio hit which shares with this film a western theme and snow scenes.

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Yes, this concerns me as Westerns these days tend not to be big money makers. Hopefully, the sheer spectacle of this film and stars like Leo and Hardy will draw people into the cinemas to see a real outdoor massive Western shot for real with no CGI. This film looks about 1000 times better than Tarantino's Django Unchained and likely will be far superior to anything Tarantino can turn out with his Hateful 8 even though that will also include some scenes in the snow.


The show in Tarantino films is always his amusing characters and the wacky or nasty dialogue they spew. He makes wildly entertaining films that basically parody or pay tribute to his pop culture touchstones and B movies. Inarritu is actually shooting a huge outdoor action adventure film on the scale of old school action adventure films and the way they used to shoot them. This is not something Tarantino is ever going to be able to do nor does it seem to be something he would be good at. Just the way Inarritu and his DP utilize and move the camera is flat out jaw-dropping and the fact that they are doing this in actual outdoor settings and not using CGI is truly awesome.


Hopefully, people go to see this because really this is not the kind of film that gets made anymore.

Malcolm R said:

Sounds like someone's Oscar went to their head, big time.

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It does doesn't it? This seems eerily similar to Cimino's path, big praise and awards for your previous film, follow-up with a Western filmed in the great outdoors on a massive scale, start with a set reasonable budget for a Western, encounter a load of outdoor problems that must be overcome, attempt to shoot most of your film in "magic time" with only a couple hours of that fading light available each day, insist on all kinds of difficult things that will blow-up your budget and make the film more difficult to shoot and finish (like expanding a scene that was set to need 20 extras to 200 extras and turning it into a massive battle), ban your producers from the set, overshoot that original budget by, in this case, an easy $40 million, everybody that sees what you have shot so far says that the footage is amazing, news of your behavior and budgetary malfeasance hits the press, firings, claims of injuries on set, a falling out with people you trusted in the past, people walk away from your picture claiming a "sense of relief" to be off it, you claim that the suffering of your crew and people working with you must happen to show "real" suffering onscreen, some members of your cast and crew defend you and your behavior, you end up in a race to finish the film and meet your deadline, and then...


...what happens when the film finally comes out?


The good part is this is not a film that is likely to be "boring" or slow paced. It also features some of today's biggest stars and of course a director hot off best picture and best director wins. It is also not going to bankrupt a major movie studio.


However, there is that not so little issue of how Westerns play with the public these days...although maybe they can sell it more as a big outdoor action adventure...but will the youngsters wonder why Leo does not just use his cell phone to call for help?

The same story is told in Man in the Wilderness, with Richard Harris.

Bob Cashill said:

The same story is told in Man in the Wilderness, with Richard Harris.

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True but that was made before everybody had a cell phone.

I recently read an article in the New York times that spending time outdoors and in the wilderness is actually very good for your brain...I wonder if that applies to watching films shot in the great outdoors?

Cleaned up at the Globes...

I'm on my way to see this film now. I'll let you know how I feel about afterwards.

I saw it Monday.

The Globe Awards are well earned! The first highlight of the year!*





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The Hateful 8 is coming on 1/28