Mexican film-maker, whose production for the Oscars favourite has been called a ‘living hell’, insists opting to shoot in remote, freezing Canada was entirely justified by film’s acclaim

Alejandro González Iñárritu has admitted to making “bad” and “irresponsible” decisions as director of The Revenant, the acclaimed yet controversial western starring Leonardo DiCaprio that is widely expected to be the best-performing film at next week’s Oscars.

Determined to film only in natural light and with minimal use of CGI, the Mexican film-maker shot his grim 19th-century frontier epic in sub-zero conditions – at one point, the temperature unexpectedly dropped to -25C (-13F) – in remote parts of Canada. The shoot has been described as a “living hell” by whistleblowers, with actors subjected to extended delays and multiple crew members quitting under brutal conditions.

“I would say the film is a happy accident of a very bad decision,” Iñárritu told Rolling Stone in a pre-Oscars interview. “It’s the result of an irresponsible decision that I made.”

However, the Oscar-winner said it was important to ignore logic on occasion, or one might as well take more run-of-the-mill employment.

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“But we need that sometimes – to be naive, blind from reality,” he continued. “If not, we will not embark on things. I’ll be an office guy or whatever. I mean, I’m not an idiot – I knew how difficult it would be. But I can feel now how far I was from reality when I was deciding how this was to be made. I’m glad that I made that irresponsible decision, but it could have been really bad. You know what I mean? Like when you climb Mount Everest and nobody dies, but we were so close! It’s that feeling of relief.”



DiCaprio, the bookmakers’ overwhelming favourite to take a debut Oscar (in the best actor category) for his turn as vengeful fur-trapping expedition guide Hugh Glass, told Rolling Stone he believes Iñárritu was looking for his “Fitzcarraldo experience”.

“I’ve been in a lot of ambitious projects – Titanic was certainly one of them – but this seemed absolutely bizarre, and like a crazy adventure to be a part of,” he said. “[Alejandro] wanted to go into the heart of darkness, and not only film nature, but really immerse himself in a completely transformative experience.”

Fitzcarraldo is the title of Werner Herzog’s cult favourite 1982 tale of the overreaching adventurer Brian Sweeney “Fitzcarraldo” Fitzgerald, portrayed in the movie by the German film-maker’s regular muse and on-set bete noire, Klaus Kinski. The film, which centres on the title character’s crazed efforts to transport a steamship over a steep hill in order to access a rich rubber territory in the Amazon basin, is famous for being one of the toughest shoots of all time.

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Iñárritu told Rolling Stone that crew members knew exactly what they were getting themselves into when they signed up for The Revenant, and said the film’s critical acclaim proved he was right to shoot using largely traditional methods.

“Everybody that embarked on this film knew the conditions,” he said. “Nobody was lied [to]. Some of them complained. I understand. For all of us it was hard. But guess what: 99.9% of the people stayed, and we are so proud. To cover this gossip – like, ‘Oh, somebody was fired.’ Well, there is 300 people in the company! Of course some people were fired. And some people stay and love it. Is that really something should be even discussed? I don’t think so. But anyway, now the film is there, and now the people understand that every penny, every decision that was made, was worth it.”

The Revenant is currently favourite to take the best picture Oscar, as well as a second best director prize for Iñárritu in a row following the film-maker’s win for Birdman last year. The Revenant’s cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, could take his third best cinematography Oscar in a row after wins in 2014 for Gravity and in 2015 for Birdman.

