Leonardo DiCaprio will continue his hunt for a best actor Oscar with Gonzalez Inarritu’s The Revenant, a gritty thriller about a fur trapper in 1820s America. The movie is an adaptation of Michael Punke’s 2003 novel.
The book follows Hugh Glass, a 19th century fur trapper who gets mauled by a bear and is left fighting for his life after being robbed, forcing him to set out on a treacherous journey to exact revenge on those who betrayed him. Glass – whom DiCaprio will portray – is described as “deserted, defenceless and furious.”
The movie follows DiCaprio’s Oscar nominated The Wolf of Wall Street, his latest project to conjure unfounded best actor hopes. In March, he lost out on the prize to Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club – the third time that he has been a losing nominee.
If any director can bag DiCaprio an Oscar, it may well be the Mexican filmmaker Inarritu, who has strong form with the Academy. He has twice been nominated for statuettes, and his 2010 Spanish movie Biutiful scored Javier Bardem a nomination. 2006’s Babel was nominated for seven Academy Awards.
Critics of DiCaprio have suggested that he chooses the wrong parts – Spielberg-esque safe characters instead of riskier propositions. He cannot be accused of such thing with his latest choice.
The Revenant is expected to hit cinemas in 2015.