Director Alejandro Iñarritu ready to ‘hibernate’ after ‘The Revenant’

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – Hollywood director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu said that he’s ready to “hibernate like a bear” after back-to-back work on two Oscar-nominated films, including The Revenant.

The harrowing survival thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a 19th-century fur trapper tops this year’s Oscars nominations list with 12 nods, including for best picture, actor and director. 

Gonzalez Iñarritu also helmed last year’s big Oscars winner Birdman, which earned 4 golden statuettes, including for best picture and director. (READ: Mexico’s Alejandro Iñarritu: From radio DJ to Oscar winner)

The director compared the back-to-back movie directing to “running two marathons”.

“The only challenge that I am facing is resting for 6 months. I want to crawl into a cave to hibernate like a bear,” Gonzalez Iñarritu told reporters at a press conference in Mexico City late Tuesday, Janaury 26 where he is promoting his latest film. 

“I cannot imagine that I will be making another movie anytime soon,” he said.

The director told reporters that he began scouting out locations for The Revenant 5 years ago, but could not start filming straight away because of DiCaprio’s busy schedule, which at the time included playing the lead in Martin Scorsese’s 2013 The Wolf of Wall Street.

“I’m not very good at resting but I seriously propose investigating how that can be done for a long time,” the 52 year-old director joked.

The Revenant, filmed in remote locations in Canada and Argentine Patagonia, tells the story of a fur trapper named Hugh Glass bent on survival and revenge in the remote US frontier of the 1820s. 

 ‘Authenticity,”perfection’ – “Much has been talked about with this film of the extreme conditions that we worked in,” said DiCaprio, who was also at the event.

The Revenant DiCaprio was forced to film naked in the snow, climb snow-covered mountains in sub-freezing temperatures wearing thick furs, spend hours lying still in the cold, and swim in frozen rivers. He also ate a piece of real bison liver.

The dapper movie star with youthful looks said he appreciated the “authenticity and perfection” of Gonzalez Iñarritu’s work.

“I’d absolutely work with Alejandro again,” the 41 year-old DiCaprio said. “I’d love to work with him again.” 

The director heaped praise on his star’s work.

The Revenant required “sacrifices and risks of historic proportions,” Inarritu said, but “none of this would have been what it became” without DiCaprio’s stellar performance, Inarritu said. 

DiCaprio is up for taking home his first Academy Award, after several nominations, in the best actor category.

Should the Mexican director win an Oscar in the February 28 ceremony he would be joining just two other directors – Joseph Mankiewicz and John Ford – who won the award for two consecutive years. – Yemeli Ortega, AFP/Rappler.com