Did Leonardo DiCaprio Really Eat A Raw Bison In The Revenant?
Some of our greatest actors have taken drastic steps for the roles they've been given: Christian Bale, for instance, has put his body through drastic weight changes for many projects. One talent who took similar steps for a particular movie gig is Oscar-winning star Leonardo DiCaprio. Earning his shiny golden statue for his 2015 performance in "The Revenant" (per ABC News), DiCaprio played legendary frontiersman Hugh Glass, who, after being shot and left for dead along with his son, miraculously survives and returns to seek his vengeance.
Throughout "The Revenant," DiCaprio literally claws his way through elemental hell, in a movie that sees him get his lunch handed to him by a CGI grizzly bear, and chow down on food that would only appeal to wildlife and Bear Grylls. One scene, in particular, portrays Glass guzzling down a bit of bison to survive, struggling with the task as he does so.
But just how much of what was on the menu was real, and did DiCaprio have the stomach for it?
DiCaprio's bite of bison was 100% real
Following the film's release, Leonardo DiCaprio didn't hesitate in detailing just how much of a trial it was to work on the Alejandro González Iñárritu-directed film. "I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I've ever had to do," he told Yahoo. "Whether it's going in and out of frozen rivers, or sleeping in animal carcasses, or what I ate on set. [I was] enduring freezing cold and possible hypothermia constantly."
One particular entry on the menu that was really hard to swallow (literally) was the aforementioned bison liver that the actor himself chose to eat. Speaking to Today, he explained, "They gave me this red gelatinous sort of pancake to eat, and it just didn't look real. It didn't look authentic to me. I wanted to get the real thing, and it was this giant liver," he explained. "It was completely disgusting [...] My reaction is very much on-screen, which is a nauseating one."
The questionable dietary requirements and the extreme weather elements, as testing as they were, clearly benefitted DiCaprio's performance. His sixth nomination at the time ultimately ended in a well-deserved win, and marks his performance in "The Revenant" as one of finest in his filmography. However, when asked if he'd try this particular culinary experience a second time, his answer is clear.
"I'll never do that again," DiCaprio said.