This $532M Drama Made Leonardo DiCaprio Quit Acting for 4 Years: 'It Was Pretty Agonizing'

With the advent of multimillion-dollar sci-fi blockbusters about superheroes and space travel, we have begun to forget that cinema is not only entertainment, but above all an opportunity to plunge into an unknown world that is inaccessible to us.

Whether it is outer space or the depths of the sea, real cinema should be able to immerse the viewer in the abyss of its action, so that he does not even have the slightest opportunity to throw popcorn in his mouth.

Such a powerful movie is a rare guest in cinemas, and Alejandro Iñárritu's The Revenant is on the list of such masterpieces.

Filming The Revenant Was “A Living Hell” for the Crew and Leonardo DiCaprio

But we all know that masterpieces are born out of suffering, right? The lengthy shoot for The Revenant took place in the Canadian woods, where the director literally tested the strength of the actors.

One crew member called the shoot “a living hell,” and it's hard to argue with that statement.

Of course, the main star, Leonardo DiCaprio, suffered the most. The first acting Oscar of his career cost him dearly. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor admitted:

“I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I've ever had to do. Whether it's going in and out of frozen rivers or sleeping in animal carcasses or what I ate on set. [I was] enduring freezing cold and possible hypothermia constantly.”

Leonardo DiCaprio Went to Extreme Lengths to Play His Role in The Revenant

Despite the fact that Leonardo is a dedicated animal rights activist, the actor went against his principles on set. There is a scene in The Revenant where DiCaprio's character eats raw bison liver.

And though the prop department offered the actor a masterfully crafted artificial liver, it seemed unrealistic to the actor – he volunteered to eat a real liver. DiCaprio himself says that his reaction to such a dish in the movie is absolutely sincere.

The actor also swam in an icy river, walked around in a wet fur coat and actually slept in a dead horse. Perhaps it was this difficult filming experience DiCaprio said “was pretty agonizing” that forced the actor to stop acting for four years – his next work was Quentin Tarantino 's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

10 Years Later, The Revenant Is Still One of the Greatest Epic Dramas Ever Made

Alejandro Iñárritu neglected safety – one of the actors was dragged naked across the ice at one point – and argued with the producers. Endless wind and snow hampered the work, and the production had to be postponed again and again.

The result? One of the most outstanding films about overcoming and fortitude in the history of cinema.