Inarritu brought a degree of difficulty to Birdman by staging his first comedy so it seems like one continuous shot, but hes found a more extreme high wire act to test himself and his cast on The Revenant, which explains why it is a nine month shoot. We dont finish until the end of April or May, and we are shooting very small hours, he said. It was planned this way, to be little by little jewel moments, thats the way I designed the production. That was both to create intensity in this moments, as well as the climate conditions. We are shooting in such remote far away locations that, by the time we arrive and have to return, we have already spent 40% of the day. But those locations are so gorgeous and so powerful, they look like they have never been touched by a human being, and thats what I needed. The light is very reduced here in winter, and we are not shooting with any electrical lighting, just natural light. And every single scene is so difficult, emotionally, technically. Ive gotten myself in trouble again but Im trying my best, said Inarritu, once again channeling his inner Birdman.
