Alejandro G. Inarritu: Working With Leonardo DiCaprio Was His ‘Best Experience’ as a Director

Leonardo DiCaprio and Alejandro G. Inarritu were in high spirits backstage after their film “The Revenant” won Golden Globe Awards for best picture, director and actor. Though much has been made of the difficulty of shooting the film, both star and director spoke at length about how the experience was all worth it. “Working with Leo has been the best experience I’ve ever had as a director,” said Inarritu. “Big statement.”

DiCaprio, who is heavily favored to finally take home his first Academy Award, also had nothing but praise for his director. “Alejandro is of the ilk of the great lovers of cinema,” he said. “That enthusiasm infused all of us. A lot of times, directors just want to get through the day. For me as an actor to be able to work with someone not only with that enthusiasm but with the commitment to make things as authentic as possible … I just needed to focus on what I needed to do because I knew everything had been thought of by him.”

Speaking to the fact the film opened at approximately $38 million over the weekend, DiCaprio said, “It’s very rewarding. We had a very solid opening weekend because I think people appreciate seeing a different type of cinema out there. Alejandro and our cinematographer Chivo shot this whole film in natural light in nine months in very rough conditions. There’s very little CGI in this movie; it’s us immersed in this world. It’s that type of immersive cinema I want to see more that in this industry. The fact that the film won tonight and was acknowledged, all the better because I want to see more films like this coming out of the studios.”

One of the most talked-about scenes of the year involves DiCaprio’s Hugh Glass being attacked by a mother bear protecting her cubs. At the start of the show, DiCaprio’s “Wolf of Wall Street” co-star Jonah Hill came onstage as the bear, which DiCaprio noted, “That was amazing.” Asked about shooting the scene, DiCaprio revealed that Inarritu watched over 100 different bear attacks.” Inarritu added that he also spoke to “one crazy guy who did a book on bear attacks who interviewed more than 100 guys.” He said, “Leo went through very hard, physical demands to make this. And every trick possible from early cinema days to the most sophisticated CGI, I used it to make the audience witness something they would never witness in real life.”

Said DiCaprio, “I think people are talking about it for good reason, I think that sequence is going to go down in the history of cinema.”

Source: Variety