Eventually, Leonardo DiCaprio is going to win a Best Actor Academy Award. His role in The Revenant might be the one that finally gets him that gold statue.
Obviously, we haven’t seen the movie (which reportedly had a very tough shoot) yet, nor the other contenders that will develop between now and the end of the year. But judging by the new trailer released for the film, DiCaprio will likely earn a nomination and Alejandro González Iñárritu could get a shot at winning both Best Director and Best Picture for the second consecutive year (earning those honors last year for Birdman). Check out the new preview and see if you agree.
Based on the novel by Michael Punke, The Revenant follows 19th century frontiersman Hugh Stamp as he and his fellow fur trappers battle Indians and hunt animals. As you saw in the trailer, one of those bears gets the better of Stamp and he’s left for dead by his cohorts, essentially buried alive. Glass escapes, recovers and then goes about seeking vengeance on those who left him behind, particularly John Fitzgerald (played by Tom Hardy).
Living in the mountains of North Carolina, the idea of being attacked by a bear has particular resonance for me, so it’s entirely possible those scenes hit closer to home than they might for others. Last week, a big brown bear waddled through our complex, walking right through our parking lot into the nearby woods. It was both amusingly surreal and somewhat unsettling.
The Revenant is scheduled for a limited release on Dec. 25 to qualify for Oscars consideration, and will then open wide in January.
