The Revenant’s 12 Oscar nominations will help make the epic survival tale a lasting calling card for Alberta’s talented crews and stunning scenery, says Calgary’s film commissioner in an interview with Eric Volmers, from the Calgary Herald. The film earned the most Oscar nominations of any film shot in Alberta and has already won Golden Globes for best drama, director (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – with two Oscar wins ) and lead actor (Leonardo DiCaprio – looking for his first Oscar after five nominations).
That the film is the most Oscar nominated movie crewed by Albertans and shot in Alberta to date is no small achievement given the province has a cinematic history that includes 1992’s Unforgiven, which received nine nominations, and 2005’s Brokeback Mountain, which received eight. Even 1966’s Doctor Zhivago, which used footage shot in Alberta, falls short of the record with 10 nominations.
While there will be no Alberta names on the Oscar ballots this year, the Academy’s recognition of the film’s production and costume designs, visual effects, makeup and hairstyling reflects the input of hundreds of local workers who, by all accounts, survived a challenging work environment during the lengthy shoot. The film is also up for best director, picture, editing, sound mixing and sound editing. DiCaprio is up for best actor, Tom Hardy for supporting actor and Emmanuel Lubezki for best cinematography.
More than 700 Albertans including more than 50 Indigenous actors worked as cast or crew on The Revenant, shooting in Drumheller, Kananaskis Country, Dead Man’s Flats and areas near Canmore. The initial plan was to shoot the entire movie in Alberta, but the weather ended up being too warm so scenes were also shot in Squamish, B.C., Montana and Argentina.
Global Calgary meteorologist Jordan Witzel played a key role in making the movie. Witzel was the forecasting consultant on the film, responsible for letting the production team know about optimal weather conditions, locations best for shooting and even specific details like cloud thickness.
They had at least 11 different set locations throughout Alberta and B.C. that were fair game each week. I had to monitor most of them at any given time,” said Witzel.
This year’s Academy Awards will be broadcast on February 28, 2016. See the complete list of nominees at: http://oscar.go.com.