Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu on 'The Revenant' Experience

When Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu collected his second Oscar in so many years for best director this past February for "The Revenant," it must have felt like the sweetest win of all. For months prior to the film release, the film industry was rife with reports of how difficult the shoot was and how the budget ballooned to some $40 million over budget. Was it going to be Inarritu's "Heaven's Gate?"

Yet despite the reports, Inarritu remained upbeat about the film while promoting the film last December. Some may have wondered why: based on a the true story of the early 19th century explorer Hugh Glass's horrific experiences in the wilderness, it had the appearance of being a vanity project for Inarritu and the film's star Leonardo DiCaprio.

A revenge story

In the film DiCaprio (who went on to win his first Best Actor Oscar for his work as Glass) was mauled by bear, witnesses his son murdered by a colleague, then is abandoned for dead in the remote Dakota territories of 1823. He survives, but must face the near-impossible task of finding his way back to civilization. What guides him is his need to revenge the death of his son and his abandonment by John Fitzgerald (Oscar-nominated Tom Hardy).

Much of the reason the production costs skyrocketed was Inarritu's insistence that the "The Revenant" be filmed on location in the frozen woods of Alberta and Montana. Then when those locales didn't rise to the strict criteria for authenticity he wanted, the shoot relocated to a remote region of Argentina. Inarritu admits it was a tough shoot but did not slack off himself. "I was not directing from my trailer on TV," Inarritu said. "I should have maybe done that. Very warm with coffee and a speaker."

Hands-on from the start

Instead Inarittu was hands-on from the start. "Actually when the [actors] arrived, I had already been on set nine hours because I had prepared the whole thing. I think the director is the first one who has to arrive to the set and the last one to leave, so yeah, of course."

Inarritu admits there were logistical problems; but as one of the film's producers, he was involved with all decisions made to continue the shoot after the budgetary cropped up. "The responsibility as the director and the producer really makes it a little bit more complicated because you have to put two different hats on," Inarritu said. "Sometimes you are a producer, sometimes you are a director and you have to be making decisions to serve both. Sometimes both are not agreeing with each other but you have to find a way to find the right balance about it. So yeah, it was difficult."

Real locations?

Last year, Inarritu won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture for "Birdman," a film that ostensibly unfolds in a single tracking shot. There are edits from scene to scene in "The Revenant," but Inarritu staged characteristic long takes that unfold on a grander scale than the intimate interiors of "Birdman." Still, Inarritu was modest about his achievement.

"The approach was very natural, literally," Inarritu said. "I'm very shocked that people are so surprised and overreacting about the fact that I shot in the real locations with real light. What the fuck is wrong with that? Really, real locations? Yes. Real light, oh my God. Sort of like if I ask people 'Did you eat real food?' Yes, real food. Not genetically modified? Not plastic? It was people in the real locations and which better light than the sun? Not a shitty film light that is not complex at all. There's no way to light a forest. This is the light where God speaks and everything is in existence and every location is as it should be. Yes, it was difficult, challenging logistically but I don't imagine David Lean justifying why he shot 'Lawrence of Arabia' in the desert. Of course you're going to go to the desert. Anyway, it was difficult as it should be. That was our duty."

Wrote and rewrote

The story of Hugh Glass is based on his real events that novelist Michael Punke turned into a novel from which the film is adapted. This makes "The Revenant" the first biographical drama Inarritu has made. However, he still had a role in the writing of Glass's story for it to be the movie he wanted to direct.

"I try always to be involved in the creative origins of the thing," he explained, noting that he had read the script's first draft by his co-writer Mark L. Smith five years ago. "I said that if I would do it, I will rewrite it. I rewrote it, but normally I like to develop my own material."

"The Revenant" arrived in a holiday season dominated by "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," a franchise film that Inarritu sees as having an innate appeal to audiences. "I think people that just choose to go see films that are massive events, like this big franchise, they share a common emotional attachment to the material that in a way they own." It's not about the creators, it's about them."

Better on TV?

Throughout his career Inarritu has steered clear of such tentpole franchises, instead focusing on more adventurous independent fare such as "Amores Perros," "21 Grams," "Babel" and "Biutiful" -- the kind of projects he sees as not being produced for general release, but are finding their way to television and streaming services.

"[We're] seeing in a way independent cinema that's better on TV," Inarritu continued. "I think that recently there's so many good choices in terms of TV -- in terms of narrative and fiction and documentary, -- so much good material in TV." On the other hand films released to theaters are far less adventurous. "They are not very brave. They are not provocative or uncomfortable enough. So there's kind of a disappearing kind of middle class in cinema as is happening in the social economic system."

While the production may have run long, cast and crew may have been uncomfortable during the shoot, "The Revenant" resonated with audiences, critics and the Hollywood establishment, winning Oscars for Inarritu, DiCaprio and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (his third win in as many years). It also turned out to a blockbuster, grossing some $518 million worldwide against a budget of $135 million. (Deadline.com has projected that after all costs are considered, the film will turn a profit of $61.6 million.)

But Inarittu points out that his goal with the film was to use state-of-the-art cinematic techniques to achieve his artistic vision, one that recreates a thrilling adventure of a man alone in the elements.

"I think honestly, I feel that I conceive and I design 'The Revenant' to be one of those adventure survival films that they will feel the cold and they will feel the breeze of the wind. They will become the heroes and they will be hungry and die and be reborn. They will feel the warmth and smell the fear. It's a physical experience. It's cinema in its pure form."

The Revenant is available on DVD.