“I can’t imagine David Lean justifying why he went to the desert to shoot ‘Lawrence of Arabia.'” – Alejandro González Iñárritu
So Leo finally has his Oscar.
He may not know the difference between climate change and a chinook, but he has his Oscar for Best Actor for his turn in The Revenant. That’s great and all but, once again, the biggest star of an Oscar winning film wasn’t even nominated.
There was a snub in 1992, when Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven swept the ceremony. Then again in 2005, when Brokeback Mountain won three awards. Legends of the Fall, Inception, The Assassination of Jesse James, and Interstellar were all nominated for Oscar’s glory, all of the nominations ignoring one of the true stars of each film; Alberta.
Yes, one of the biggest stars in all of these movies wasn’t Leo or Brad or Clint, it was the scenery. Oscar ‘kind of’ agreed with that this year, Emmanuel Lubezki was nominated, and won, for Best Cinematography (his third in a row), but look at the palette with which he had to paint.
From K Country to the Bow Valley to Drumheller, here’s where you can see the locations from The Revenant and explore Alberta – one of the biggest stars Oscar has ever known.
From Dorrien-Spray Lakes Trail and Bow Valley in K Country
via Twentieth Century Fox
To the Bow River
via Twentieth Century Fox
To Morley on the Stoney Nation
via Twentieth Century Fox
To Mount Ishbel and Castle Rock near Canmore
via Twentieth Century Fox
To Fortress Mountain
via Twentieth Century Fox
To the Canadian Badlands near Drumheller
via Twentieth Century Fox
There is no Oscar for “Achievement In Locations,” but if there was Derek Bond, Bruce L. Brownstein and their team would have won it. With director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s demand that every scene be shot with nothing but natural light, they had to find locations that stood on their own. You might say it was an easy task, looking at our backyard, but they picked the best of the best and, for the first half of The Revenant, Alberta is the unabashed star, dwarfing DiCaprio in every scene.
Here’s the full list of Alberta locations used in The Revenant:
Burnt Forest, Abraham Lake, Sundance Lodges, Deadman’s Flats, Upper Bow River, Bow Valley Wildland Park, King Creek – Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Elbow Falls Lookout, Bluebird Valley Ranch, Stoney Rodeo Grounds & Reserve Land in Morley, Bow Vista Ranch, Turner Valley Ranch, Albertina Farming Ltd in High River, Smith-Dorrien Highway, Kananaskis Country, Matthews Forest, Highway 66 in Bragg Creek, Engadine Meadow, Engadine Lodge, Crescent Falls, Fortress Mountain, Bonzai Lake, Elbow River Canyon, Opal Day Use Area at Spray Valley Provincial Park, Horseshoe Canyon, Bow River and Bow Valley Wildland Park, Jura Creek, Moose Mountain.
Wow.
Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki is also on Instagram, check out more of his incredible work as inspired by one of Hollywood’s biggest stars never to win an Oscar – Alberta.
Spray lake and the Rocky Mountains. A photo posted by @chivexp on Mar 21, 2015 at 2:37pm PDT
Tree # 5. Spring. Alberta, CA. A photo posted by @chivexp on May 22, 2015 at 8:54am PDT
Tree # 2. Fall. Alberta, CA. A photo posted by @chivexp on Oct 20, 2014 at 10:32pm PDT
A photo posted by @chivexp on Sep 20, 2014 at 9:37pm PDT
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