Will Poulter and Domhnall Gleeson
Will Poulter; Domhnall Gleeson (Photo by Dave J Hogan/Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

On the second floor of the Apple Store in Covent Garden, Domnhall Gleeson and Will Poulter sat down for a chat about what to expect in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s (BIRDMAN) latest offering THE REVENANT, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.

The proceeding began with a rather droll Gleeson disclaiming that the pair ‘can’t answer questions about Apple, we don’t know about the products. If someone is here to ask about a problem with your iPod I can’t help you, I’m very sorry.’

In fact, the dynamic duo weren’t there to discuss the latest products, but their latest film. When asked about what attracted them to the project, Poulter confirmed that he could not resist the tantalising prospect of being involved: “The script was in circulation for a while, and it was the first time I have ever read a script and heard so many people say it’s the best thing they ever read. I have to say it totally lived up to that, I’ve never read anything that was so visceral. I think finding out that Mr DiCaprio and Mr Hardy were involved, and that it was directed by Alejandro, was a huge incentive for me. It was very exciting for me and even the chance to audition was huge. I couldn’t believe I got the part, I feel very lucky.”

Gleeson synopsises the film, but is coy with his description, as he doesn’t want to give anything away, and suggests audiences watch it without knowing too much. Gleeson explains, “The film is based on a true story about Hugh Glass played by Leonardo DiCaprio. There was a bunch of bear trackers in the 1820s, one of them got attacked by a bear and that is the basic setup.”

Will Poulter
Will Poulter (Photo by Dave J Hogan/Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

Gleeson went on to praise the plot and described it as ‘an amazing story’ and ‘really exciting’. Poulter adds, “The film is very tense it’s a very immersive, visceral watch.”

Poulter pays homage to the film’s naturalistic look, which was shot in a unique way: “For the most part, I think we couldn’t have created that unless we went through it to an extent. We almost went through what they (the characters) went though. We shot this all on location all in natural light, all in real weather elements, which made it a lot more challenging and generally pretty cold. As an actor, it is a rare opportunity to not have to act as much as we would’ve shooting this. We were genuinely cold, we were genuinely tired and we genuinely found it tough. We wouldn’t have achieved the same product had we been in a studio with a bunch of electricity and wind blowers.”

With Iñárritu being such a directing force of nature in Hollywood, Gleeson was more than happy to be part of the project: “The performances in his (Iñárritu’s) films are always amazing across the board, amazing. They also screened BIRDMAN for us right before we started shooting, to show us some extent of this tight rope we were walking about these long takes, the kind of choreography, but then also the invention that has to exist inside of that. We were already incredibly excited to work with him and then they showed us the film and it was just even more incentive to try harder”.

The Revenant Direction

Poulter is a young actor who has come a long way in his career at such a young age already, but working with DiCaprio and Hardy proved to be an educational experience, as well as enjoyable one: “They’re two very focussed individuals when they are on set and they work incredibly hard. They both have a huge appreciation for the detail in every scene. When Leo comes on to set he’s not guilty of what a lot of actors are guilty of, which is about making it about their own personal performance a little too much and not being considerate of other people. It was so impressive that they considered absolutely every element in the scene, or as collaborative as they were. They really did work hard to make every aspect of the movie as good as possible, they weren’t just out to rep their characters and be done.”

When asked if they had any time for fun on set Gleeson playfully mused, “NO, we would sit around and talk about the script”. Poulter quipped that Gleeson “actually banned fun, didn’t you?” Gleeson grimaced and responded, “I said not on my set”. This brief exchange between the duo showed the respect they have for each other and have built up a strong rapport from the production experience, but it wasn’t all laughter and games during filming… “There was time to have fun on the set. Part of the way the film is shot is that it was shot using natural light at all times, so we would be waiting for the time of day when the sun was in the right position and the clouds had moved to the right position, we were hoping they got moved to the right position, and everything looked right. When it got there you had half an hour sometimes to get a really chunky scene done in like two takes. So the pressure was incredibly high, but it also means when you either get it or you are in the lead up to something, when you have time to laugh you tend to laugh a lot. I laughed a huge amount on the job, but then when things got serious, they got very serious, so knowing which bit is which is very important.”

Domhnall Gleeson
Domhnall Gleeson (Photo by Dave J Hogan/Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

When asked if the pair got along Poulter grinned, “We hate each other”. To which Gleeson impishly retorted by saying, “Will kept hitting on me and it was just awkward, we slept together at the after party, so I think that really got rid of some of the awkwardness.”

Poulter knew that under such different filming circumstances, tension could be high, but it did not detract from their relationship: “We were incredibly close on the shoot really, all of us. This was physically and emotionally pretty tough and we were with one another for almost every minute of every day for seven months. You couldn’t help come out of this experience with very strong feelings, whether it be hate or love, and it turned out to be love.”

Questioned about the shooting conditions Gleeson clarified, “I think everybody on it said it was different to what they did before and that includes Alejandro. Nobody had ever worked in conditions like that.” Gleeson concluded that it was, “Completely crazy, it’s a really really nuts experience.”

THE REVENANT features some rather violent scenes and the two actors were addressed about the rumours that people have fainted. Gleeson opines, “I think it’s better to be overcome by emotion rather than have no emotion and fall asleep. I think the film is very effective and I saw it minute to minute, it was so exhilarating that it was almost overpowering at times, but it was always entertaining, which I think sounds wrong almost given the subject matter, but minute to minute I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. I think that is the kind of film you always want to be in and that it is the kind of film I want to watch, regardless of if a little bit of it makes me feel a little worried for Leonardo DiCaprio.”

Gleeson & Poulter The Revenant

An audience member then awkwardly asked why they thought the decision was made to shoot in such harsh conditions, and did they feel like they weren’t trusted to act. Gleeson was slightly taken aback by the question but held back any sassiness brewing and politely retorted that, “It’s easier to be cold than to pretend to be cold, it’s easier to just do the scene and not think about having to pretend to be cold rather than thinking about the scene and pretending to be cold. So I was fine with it, I quite like the cold. If I had to be in the heat I get very cranky and want to punch someone, so I was really happy to be in the cold. I think we all knew that he was pushing us to places on purpose and Alejandro wanted it to be difficult. He didn’t want this to be easy and he wanted it to be a journey that was going to be very difficult to go on, and to push all of ourselves to our limits, including himself. I think when you see the film that will make sense because what’s in front of you, to me, doesn’t look like acting it looks like terrifying, horrifying, brilliant real life and I think that’s part of what makes this film special.”

Prompted by the lack of females in the trailer, another audience member asked if there were any women in the film and how prominent would they be. Poulter responded, “There are incredibly strong female characters in the movie. Most of Glass’s actions in the movie are motivated by his wife and his son. Family is a key theme within the movie.” Not wanting to give too much away Poulter hesitantly continues, “There is a female character who is very central in Glass’s…survival tale, is what I’ll say.”

To round off the Q&A, Gleeson concludes, “It had been a very intense, very long shoot, the longest shoot I’ve been a part of. When it was over, it took a little while to get back to normal life.”

THE REVENANT looks like it is going to shape up to be an insanely epic tale and is already garnering a great deal of awards buzz.

THE REVENANT is set to hit UK cinemas on January, 15th.

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