For a while there, we were getting worried about Babel and Biutiful helmer Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant, a gritty revenge tale about an ill-fated fur trapping expedition to 1820s South Dakota. The movie’s considerable budget caused big problems for it when Worldview Entertainment severed ties with the project and 20th Century Fox appeared reluctant to stump up the cash. Those problems were exacerbated when Iñárritu stated his desire to shoot the film in sequence, adding even more to The Revenant‘s budget.
Luckily, it appears that the intervention of Annapurna Pictures’ Megan Ellison has saved the day, now that the movie has received a release date and a preliminary shooting schedule. The Revenant has been handed the extremely awards-friendly date of December 25th, 2015, where it will have to contend with the blockbuster Mission: Impossible 5.
However, Fox has every reason to feel confident about The Revenant now that the financial side of things has been sorted. With his Birdman getting huge buzz before its arrival this fall, Iñárritu is highly in demand, and The Revenant has also landed Tom Hardy and Leonardo DiCaprio to star (additionally, Will Poulter has been cast in a supporting role). The story is also promising – The Revenant centers on a fur trapper (DiCaprio) who is mauled by a grizzly bear, then left for dead and robbed by his hunting companions. After recovering from his injuries, the trapper then goes on a mission of vengeance.
Also exciting is word of the film’s lengthy production schedule, which suggests that the director got his wish to film The Revenant in sequence. The movie is set to shoot for a gruelling 80 days in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, starting in October and stretching until approximately March. Can’t imagine it will be a walk in the park for Hardy, DiCaprio or Poulter, but we couldn’t be more excited for The Revenant.
