The Wolf of Wall Street‘s Leonardo DiCaprio and Locke‘s Tom Hardy are two of the most stunningly talented leading men working in Hollywood today, and their last on-screen collaboration, Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending Inception, was far and away my favorite film of 2010. Now, DiCaprio and Hardy are confirmed to share the screen again, for a film called The Revenant, from Birdman helmer Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Originally a project eyed by Lawless helmer John Hillcoat, The Revenant is a revenge Western adapted from Michael Punke’s 2003 novel of the same name. The film focuses on an ill-fated fur trapping expedition to 1820s South Dakota. When Hugh Glass (DiCaprio), one of the trappers, is mauled by a bear, he’s robbed and abandoned by his two companions. When Glass slowly recovers from his wounds, he sets out on a mission of revenge. Hardy is reportedly eying the role of one of Glass’s two villainous hunting buddies, a part for which Sean Penn was once in contention. He was rumored for the part a few days ago, but now we have official confirmation via Empire.
The Revenant will mark DiCaprio’s first role since his tour-de-force, Oscar-nominated work in The Wolf of Wall Street, and Iñárritu’s next project after this fall’s Birdman, about a washed-up actor who reprises his iconic role as a superhero for a Broadway play. The Biutiful helmer was once attached to Warner Bros.’s adaptation of The Jungle Book, but he eventually departed that project, leaving The Lord of the Rings actor Andy Serkis to take the reins for the film so that it can still compete with Disney’s Ron Howard-helmed version.
The Revenant will kick off production in September. With the talent attached, I’d imagine that this one will be angling for release in the Oscar-friendly fall of 2015.
