The harrowing survival epic “The Revenant” leads the Oscar race with 12 nominations, including best picture.
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“You know, it’s not often that films like this even get made but the fact that it’s gotten recognized means we’re going to get to do more like it”.
The team of “The Revenant”, who now stand a chance to win in categories like Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design and Best Sound Mixing, might also walk away with top honours including Best Picture and Best Director. DiCaprio is vying for the Best Actor against Eddie Redmayne, Michael Fassbender and others. Saying that he doesn’t expect to work on a movie like it ever again, DiCaprio described the filming experience as “exciting” and revealed it taught him a vast amount as an actor.
“The big news is “The Revenant” over-performed”, said Paul Sheehan, executive editor at the awards-tracking website.
Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the Academy’s president, described the film as a “cinematic masterpiece”.
“The Revenant” will compete with gritty action adventure “Mad Max: Fury Road” and space film “The Martian”.
While diversity was lacking in the acting race, the films nominated reflect a variety of genres.
Bloomberg reported that this year’s awards season had a diverse line-up of films.
One of the most celebrated aspects of The Revenant is its use of only natural light, giving the entire film an eerie, twilight feel. The lack of representation among the minorities has prompted the revival of the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, which was first coined during the 2015 Oscars.
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“In a year with an extraordinary number of great performances by black actors that were embraced by audiences and embraced by critics, for them all to get ignored is tragic”, said Reginald Hudlin, who will produce the February 28 awards ceremony hosted by comedian Chris Rock.
