It looks like the wheels are turning on the next film by Alejandro González Iñárritu. Late this summer it was announced the helmer behind “Amores Perros,” “21 Grams,” “Babel” and "Biutiful" was setting up his next picture, "The Revenant." Well, it now has backing and two major Hollywood stars are now looking to star.
Deadline reports that New Regency — who also have Mark Wahlberg's "Broken City" and Darren Aronofsky's "Noah" as part of their upcoming slate — have come aboard to finance the film, and more, Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn have met with the director about taking roles. An adaptation of Michael Punke‘s period novel “The Revenant,” and based on a true story, the 1820s-set tale follows frontiersman Hugh Glass who goes on a path of vengeance against those who robbed him and left him for dead after a bear mauling. DiCaprio is being eyed to take the lead role of Glass, and it's not clear which part Penn has, though we'd guess it's for Capt. Andrew Henry, Glass' boss, who sticks with him after the attack and details the two men to watch over the injured man and later betray him, when they flee, taking his weapons, after seeing hostile Indians on the horizon.
Penn of course, starred in "21 Grams" and was also one of the big voices who helped push Javier Bardem into an Oscar nomination for "Biutiful" last year. We think it's a no brainer for him to join. As for DiCaprio, Iñárritu is exactly the kind of auteur the actor loves to gravitate toward, he's never worked with him before, and with Penn in the mix and some great material, we think it's a good shot he'll do it. Moreover, with filming not slated to take place until next fall, it seems New Regency and the filmmaker are willing to make sure everyone has space in their schedule to do this.
A promising start to Iñárritu's next effort and a really nice change of pace for the director. We're looking forward to it.
