After sweeping up the Oscars last year with his delightfully subversive and absurdist dramedy “Birdman,” writer/director Alejandro González Iñárritu takes a hard turn into bleak, violent, and meditational man-vs.-nature epic-drama territory with “The Revenant.”
Based on the harrowing true story of frontiersman Hugh Glass’ (Leonardo DiCaprio) fight against the unforgiving coldness of nature as he sets on a journey to take revenge on the people who left him for dead, “The Revenant” has been getting some solid reviews on its way to opening wide stateside on January 8, 2016. The film has yet to be seen by yours truly, but Rodrigo Perez’s review on our site is positive, and I happen to know that The Playlist’s own Erik McClanahan has also gone for it in a big way.
Now you can watch Iñárritu talk candidly about his creative process in bringing such challenging material to the big screen. During two half-hour conversations, one held after the film’s DGA screening in Los Angeles on November 23rd, the other in New York City on November 25th, Iñárritu goes into great detail about adapting the story, as well as how the production handled the many grueling challenges put upon by the harshness of the shooting location. The moderators of both conversations are not your usual respected middle-aged print film critics either, but two names you might have heard of: Michael Mann and Darren Aronofsky.
Even if you’re not a fan of Iñárritu’s work, these two interviews should be essential viewing for anyone who wants to know more about the internal artistic methods that go into visualizing a story. The most interesting moments of these conversations highlight the creative ways Iñárritu fought against the problems brought on by shooting on location. Watch the Mann talk below, and hit the link to find the Aronofsky chat.
Alejandro González Iñárritu Talks To Darren Aronofsky About ‘The Revenant’
