Updated with details of the filming of the Squamish bear attack.
Helmed by director Alejandro González Iñárritu and lensed by Oscar-winning Gravity cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, this A-list feature is the true story of a 19th century fur trapper Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) bent on revenge after a mercenary (Tom Hardy) kills his son and leaves him for dead following a bear attack. [The attack was done without any real bears in a small area of first growth timber on the Squamish River known as the “Derringer Forest’ for three days with Leonardo DiCaprio on a harness yanked around and smashing into prop rubber trees so he wouldn’t be hurt. Vancouver stuntman Glenn Ennis dressed in a blue-screen suit played the bear]
Other proposed upper Squamish Valley filming included a daytime scene of group of trappers walking across the sandbar at Shovehouse Creek carrying injured Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) on a makeshift stretcher, a daytime scene of a trapper hunting for prey in the bush and a night scene of a large camp of about 20 trappers at a simple tarp/tent structure with several burning camp fires. At the Whistler Film Festival a few weeks later, West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy spoke of driving past The Revenant’s lit-up sky near Squamish for several nights in a row.
Only 10% of The Revenant was shot in B.C. versus 90% in Alberta — production began in southern Alberta in late September and is expected to wrap there in [September], having already shot the epic “Indians attack” battle scene west of Calgary on the Morley reserve. Other Alberta filming locations include Drumheller, Kananaskis Country, Dead Man’s Flats and areas near Canmore, according to the Calgary Herald.
The Revenant is expected in selected theatres on Christmas Day next year and in wide release on January 8th in 2016.