How Leonardo DiCaprio's 'The Revenant' Shoot Became "A Living Hell"

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Veteran crew members who have toiled on director Alejandro G. Inarritu's The Revenant say the director's follow-up to Birdman could turn out to be epic and Oscar-worthy. Some also say that making the film has been by far the worst experience of their careers — "a living hell," as one bluntly puts it.

Inspired by real events, Revenant follows DiCaprio's character through deep snow and ordeals including battles with Native Americans and a near-fatal mauling by a bear. Inarritu, 51, made the unusual choice to shoot the film in sequence, using only natural light. While the plan was to film DiCaprio's trek entirely in Canada, the weather did not cooperate, so the filmmakers now are headed to a location at the tip of Argentina in quest of snow.

Multiple sources say the film started to spin out of control early on, as a major battle scene was shot over two weeks. Originally it was going to involve about 30 trappers and about as many Native Americans, but it expanded to 200 players. Leaving little time for the crew to prepare, Inarritu decided that a naked character should be dragged along the ground. The director remembers being concerned about the actor's genitals and laying down plastic sheeting to protect him. "I asked him several times, 'Are you fine?' " says Inarritu. Each time he asked, he says the actor replied that he was prepared to try another take. "I was super considerate because he was a nice, 22-year-old guy," says Inarritu. While crew members say the actor was in pain, Inarritu dismisses that as "a lie."

The director says safety always was a priority and no serious injuries occurred on set. An actor who was immersed in freezing water had a broken dry suit, volunteers Inarritu, "but he was taken care of 10 minutes after he was done." A crew member says some necks of the dry suits were cut off so they wouldn't show on film, but first assistant director Scott Robertson denies that and says just one actor's dry suit had the neck cut, and it was only to aid him after he reacted adversely to the cold water. Overall, Robertson says, there was a great deal of rehearsal and planning to protect the cast and crew. "We had a safety meeting every day of the movie, sometimes multiple times," he says. "No one got hurt on the film with all the crazy shite we did."

Still, some crew members believe a lot of misery could have been avoided — and money saved — if at least some parts of the movie had been conceived with computer-generated effects. "That's exactly what I didn't want," counters Inarritu. "If we ended up in greenscreen with coffee and everybody having a good time, everybody will be happy, but most likely the film would be a piece of shite." Revenant is about survival, he says, and the actors and crew benefited from having to make it in nature.

"When you see the film, you will see the scale of it," promises Inarritu. "And you will say, 'Wow.'

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