Anyone who has seen the trailer for 'The Revenant' would quickly admit that the new Leonardo DiCaprio film is intense and visually stunning. However, it also wasn't easy for director Alejandro González Iñárritu to come up with such a visceral masterpiece, as even the star of the movie admits to Yahoo! that he had to prepare himself for the intense shooting that included a bear attack scene.
"The truth is that I knew what I was getting into," DiCaprio admitted. "This was a film that had been floating around for quite some time, but nobody was crazy enough to really take this on, simply because of the logistics of where we needed to shoot and the amount of work and rehearsal that would have to be done to achieve Alejandro and [cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki] vision."
So what was it about working with these two maestros that made filming so difficult?
"They're very specific about their shots and what they want to achieve, and that - compounded with the fact that we were in an all-natural environment, succumbing to whatever nature gave us - was something that became more of a profoundly intense chapter of our lives than we ever thought it was going to be," DiCaprio said, later adding that the director was "incredibly specific" about what needed to appear onscreen.
But perhaps one of the more challenging things that could happen for 'The Revenant' is to go up against 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' for the holiday box office. However, Leonardo DiCaprio isn't bothered by the competition.
"There's always room at the top," he said, admitting that he will be watching '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."
Leonardo DiCaprio would be the first to say that his film wouldn't win when it comes to box office numbers.
"I would never think that we'd be able to compete with 'Star Wars' - that's something that's embedded in our cultural DNA," he said. "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."
'The Revenant' will hit theaters on December 25.
