Alejandro G Iñàrritu‘s The Revenant was a very ambitious project from the start, but it is a very solid and highly anticipated project nonetheless. Rather than do another film that looked like it was shot in one-take, the Birdman director’s latest directorial effort was entirely shot using natural lighting, which meant that they were only able to shoot for a certain amount of hours in the day. Leonardo DiCaprio, Domhnall Gleeson, and Tom Hardy star in this 19th century revenge thriller that is based on true events.

We’ve seen plenty of images in the past showing how gritty the film can be, and now 20th Century Fox has released the first trailer for The Revenant. Check it out below.

DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass, a fur trapper who is betrayed and left for dead by a treacherous member of his team, John Fitzgerald. With nothing but his will, Glass vows revenge on Fitzgerald, and survives against all odds to get it.

Iñàrritu reunites with his Birdman cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki to work on the film. Their latest experiment took them to remote locations of Calgary, where they only had a few hours of light to work with.

The film is based on Glass’s events, which Michael Punke turned into a novel called The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge. Will Poulter also stars.

Here’s what Iñárritu said about the ambitious project:

The Revenant opens in theaters on Christmas Day, December 25, 2015, for an awards season campaign, and will be followed by a full theatrical release sometime in 2016.

Here’s the synopsis,

Trailer

[Source: 20th Century Fox YT]