Winners' Press Conference with Leonardo DiCaprio, Alejandro G Iñárritu, Keith Redmon, Mary Parent & Steve Golin for The Revenant in the Film category
Q. It's a very obvious first question but how do you feel?
LEONARDO DICAPRIO: Shocked and amazed, honoured. To tell you the truth, I don't think any of us, all of this was not expected tonight. I mean, truly, often we've talked about how difficult this film was to make and it was but we're so proud of what we accomplished and to be received here in England like this, on this level, is kind of beyond our comprehension, it really is.
Q. Alejandro?
ALEJANDRO G IÑÁRRITU: I feel the same. I feel excited and nerves of steel and adrenaline shock still and so honoured, so honoured to receive this award and the most beautiful thing is to share it with all the producers and all the crew around the world. That's the most exciting part, and all the actors. That's a global celebration for all the people who participated in this film.
Q. Absolutely. We're going to throw it out to you guys very, very quickly.
Q. Hello gang, Ravi from BBC films. Just wanted to say a big congratulations on winning this award, my favourite film of the year, seriously, I'm not just saying that. I just want to ask you, was this your Apocalypse Now moment in making a film and if it was, for each of you, what was the most challenging moment of making the film where you questioned your own sanity?
LEONARDO DICAPRIO: I often refer to this journey as reference to Heart of Darkness because there was something very early on in Alejandro's eyes. I saw that he wanted to sub-merge himself into another world and he didn't quite yet have all the answers of what this movie was to be but he knew that us being completely entrenched in those conditions was going to come up with some very existential answers. So, yes, I would say that this was one of the -- I keep referring to this as not just a film but an epic journey that we all went on and I think we all learned and grew from it, not only as film makers but as people and I'll forever reflect back on this journey as something incredibly special in my life.
ALEJANDRO G IÑÁRRITU: For me basically, I think that we all went through very physical challenges, it has been exposed very much in the press but, for me, I think that the darkest -- I would think the most difficult challenge was, you know, there is a moment in this film that I wanted this film to -- through the sight and sound, not through basically words but more through these images, I want people to experience, to feel lost as a character in the middle of nowhere. So beyond the battles of the production's problems we had, there's a moment when I was putting the material together, there was a moment when I began to feel lost as a character so it was like a triple existential lost, lost and lost and lost, so you don't know if you find something during the whole process of it and at the same time that you are in a roller coaster of dealing with global warming and things like that and location. So all those things intellectually and physically, there were very low moments but they now are rewarded with high moments, you know.
Q. And Mary, Steve and Keith, if I could bring you in on this as well. Was there a moment for you when you felt this was an Apocalypse Now moment? Most challenging moment.
MARY PARENT: Absolutely, when we had to shut down because we virtually ran out of snow. You know, what we've done to our world, it came right into our faces and we couldn't finish the film and we had to tell Leo to keep the beard and the hair and we'd get back to him when we found a location and Alejandro would ask every morning in post, have we found a place yet and the answer was no and then we got very lucky and found Ushuaia but having to finish the film in the middle of summer and then Alejandro having to edit without an ending and on such a tight schedule, I think that was probably it. It was scary, absolutely and we had a very supportive studio so thank God for that.
Q. We have a lot of questions. This gentleman here.
Q. Hi, for Univision, Latin America. I would like to congratulate everyone. Of course I would like us to mention Alejandro, 14 years ago you were winning here a BAFTA, an award for -- it was a film award for best film not in English. It's quite a -- it's been a journey I'm sure since then, because we don't have enough time to go into this deeply I would like to ask you and Leonardo at the same time, with such brilliant collaboration between Mexicans and Americans, which of the things have advanced and what still needs improvement towards a more inclusive Hollywood because we know in this year the academy awards has been utterly criticised for not being inclusive enough? Thank you.
ALEJANDRO G IÑÁRRITU: What is the question exactly?
Q. Sorry, it was a long one. The question is, what do you think has changed and what should change towards a more inclusive Hollywood?
ALEJANDRO G IÑÁRRITU: Well, listen, I feel incredibly honoured and thankful that me and the film -- honestly in the film there were several Mexican collaborators and people from around the world in this particular film and different people from all around the world, native Americans, so it's a film that in a way we were lucky to be sharing this particular experience. Now, I would say that in my personal point of view, the problem of the diversity in the Academy I think goes deeper to the diversity in the industry which goes deeper to the diversity in the cultural perception of the world. So it's a bigger question, it's a bigger challenge which is a cultural thing. You know, so what I'm saying is that the more we keep talking about races like that, like we're tribes and we don't understand that we all are mixed race, want it or not, there is no purity in this and that's the richness of humanity I think, there will be always conflict. So I think that, I don't know the statistics but it's true that I don't know how many Mexican Americans or Mexicans or Latin Americans are portrayed in TV shows, in films, in advertising. So I think compared to what really the population in the United States, there's a lot to do. There's a lot to do but has to start first with the point of view, the perception in the cultural media and then start to be impregnated, everything that -- so that we all can be recognise -- recognise ourselves, native Americans the same and Asians too, not only the African Americans, we all need to be recognised. There's a lot of things. I don't have the answer now but there's a lot we can all do little by little.
Q. Grant Tucker, Times Newspaper. This is for you, Leonardo. When your hero Peter O Toole won an honorary Oscar, he said always a bridesmaid, never a bride. How does it feel to no longer be a bridesmaid and are you looking are forward to winning the Oscar soon?
LEONARDO DICAPRIO: Well, first off, Peter O'Toole, my God, what an incredible talent. That's why I wanted to pay homage to so many British actors tonight that really influenced me throughout my entire career and I got to work with one in Tom Hardy who was such an amazing collaborator. Look, my answer to that is, you know, this is one thing that is absolutely beyond my control. We did the work, we put our heart and soul into this movie. I can't say we didn't put everything on the table creatively as an entire team in making this movie so, you know, it's up to the world now and voters to decide all of those things but I'm really happy to be part of a film like this because I think that it's a genre, the epic sort of arthouse film is something that is basically becoming extinct in our industry and I think there's an urge from audiences around the world to see something that is, you know, like I said poetic and epic and existential and all of those things. So I'm just happy that, you know, more people are going to hopefully finance films like this in the future. That's my hope anyway.
Q. And the last question at the back.
Q. Congratulations to all of you. Leo, following on that same question, how do you feel about the overwhelming support that you've been getting from professionals and the public campaigning for you to win an Oscar and Kate Winslet being your main award groupie?
LEONARDO DICAPRIO: My main groupie? It feels amazing, honestly. Honestly. I have a true love for cinema, I have ever since I was a young teenager. I grew up in this industry. Ironically I felt very detached from it, even though I lived in east LA, in Hollywood. I always felt like it was this distinct thing that I couldn't touch, so to have worked in this industry ever since I was 13 years old, having done 20-some odd movies to be here now and have it be for a film like this that we worked so very hard on really feels amazing and, you know, I feel it -- it feels fantastic. That's all. Thank you. And Kate, that's my home girl.
Q. On that bombshell, thank you so much. Congratulations once again Leonardo DiCaprio, Alejandro G Inarritu, Steve Golin, Mary Parent, Keith Redmon.
