From outrageous Internet rumours to being spoofed by actor Jonah Hill at the Golden Globes, the grizzly bear from The Revenant movie has become a kind of breakout star.

In the $135 million (USD) movie, which on Thursday garnered a list-topping 12 Academy Award nominations — including Vancouver’s Chris Duesterdiek for sound mixing, Hamish Purdy for production design and Pitt Meadows native Cameron Waulbauer for visual effects — the bear repeatedly attacks Leonardo DiCaprio’s 1820s frontiersman character Hugh Glass. One of those look-through-your-fingers, frightening movie moments, the mauling sets in motion the story of survival and revenge that is the heart of the Alejandro González Iñárritu-directed film.

The bear of course is not real — not even Daniel Day Lewis would go that method — but rather a combination of CGI rendering and Vancouver stuntman Glenn Ennis.

“The director was really adamant that I looked like a bear, so I had to study all these bear attacks. So thank you, Darwin, there’s lots of examples of humans being stupid enough to get around bears and get attacked,” said Ennis, who has been in the stunt business for 15 years.

After hours of reviewing footage, Ennis felt comfortable enough as a bear to add his own touches to the scene.

“There was a clip I saw where a bear just stands there and puts his paws on some guy’s head, so in the movie that’s where that came from where I put my hands on Leo’s head and press it down into the mud and kind of bounce on him a little bit, then nonchalantly sit down,” said the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Ennis, who is currently in St. John’s stunt doubling Game of Thrones star Jason Momoa in the film Braven.

That stillness is the interesting part of the attack — how the bear becomes quiet and calm in between horrific, vicious moments. A year ago Ennis rehearsed the bear attack for a couple of weeks in Calgary, and then the production moved to woods 90 minutes outside of Squamish. There they rehearsed for another week then shot the scene over two days.

Long days of rehearsal were required, as Iñárritu shot the movie in natural light, meaning there was only about 90 minutes a day that was his magic hour.

For the scene, DiCaprio was attached to wires that both lifted him up and pulled him from side to side. Ennis was then in the mix lifting and rolling and, well, mauling the mega-star.

“We did the whole thing from start to finish about a thousand times,” said Ennis. “None of it was pieced together. It was a two-minute sequence. Every time we rehearsed it we started at the beginning and ended at the end. That’s how we shot it, too. When you are manhandling someone and throwing them around while basically on your hands and feet, well, it’s a thigh burner.”

It is also an injury inducer, as Ennis, a former member of Canada’s national rugby team, found out.

“It’s funny, we rehearsed it all that time and when we finally get to shooting it they yell ‘action,’ and I run over and hit Leo and dislocate my finger,” said Ennis. “I was in this f---ing bear head just grinding my teeth until we stopped and I could put it back in place and tape it up.”

Ennis reports that DiCaprio was there for lots of the rehearsal process and, despite his “team,” DiCaprio was unassuming; according to Ennis, he “could slip into a room without anyone noticing him.” Well, maybe if that room was devoid of any female Titanic fans.

But what left the biggest impression on Ennis, a veteran of many TV and movie shoots, was DiCaprio’s talent.

“Leo gets in there and the first time he actually acted it my jaw hit the floor. I was blown away at what an incredibly powerful actor he is,” said Ennis. “He didn’t have a line or anything, and everyone around thought I was actually hurting him.”

When he is not throwing movie stars around, Ennis is a co-partner in Peacemaker Filmworks. The Vancouver-based production company specializes in gyro-stabilized camera systems.

“It’s starting to sting a little bit, this whole falling down thing,” said Ennis when asked about his non-contact career.

In the meantime, it’s fun to revel in the success of The Revenant, success that includes recent Golden Globes wins for picture, director for Iñárritu and actor for DiCaprio. But Ennis does admit he is still a bit surprised by all the attention.

“When I did it I thought it was just a little thing, a little part of it,” said Ennis. “I knew it was going to be a kind of epic movie, but had no idea that of all the things that happen in that movie that the one people so often talk about is the bear scene. Surprising, but pretty cool.”

And talk about it they do. Before the movie was even released people were speculating and even spreading rumours that the bear rapes DiCaprio. Yes, that was actually suggested and reported.

“I was flabbergasted,” laughed Ennis. “I know for sure everything between me and Leo was consensual.”

dgee@theprovince.com

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