'Birdman' director Alejandro G. Inarritu plunges into new risk

Feb. 24--Filmmakers coming off a big Oscar win tend to take a year or more to sift through their options. Ang Lee, who won the director Oscar in 2013, still hasn't started shooting his next film.

But "Birdman's" Alejandro G. I񡲲itu -- winner on Sunday of the best picture, directing and screenplay trifecta -- isn't experiencing any Riggan Thomson-like dithering.

I񡲲itu has spent the last five months shooting the western-flavored movie called "The Revenant" in and around Calgary, and will continue doing so at least until April. The director's awards-season stops were often built around trips to Los Angeles (where he lives with his family) from rural Canada, where he and cinematographer Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki have been scouting or shooting in harsh conditions with stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.

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"The Revenant" examines a 19th century frontiersman (DiCaprio) who is mauled by a grizzly bear and the complicated consequences that ensue for both him and his men. As a period survival tale with numerous outdoor shots, it's a further genre break for I񡲲itu, who began his feature career ushering in the modern triptych film with hard-boiled dramas such as "Amores Perros" "21 Grams," and "Babel."

"For me, it's absolutely scary," he told The Times in the fall as he was preparing to shoot "Revenant." "It's another genre, and I'm a tropical banana confronting 30 degrees below zero, and I'm afraid of zeros. I don't know how I'm going do the film. [But] making 'Birdman' I learned, and maybe I should have done this before, but I learned that I should risk a little more. I should explore more things I'm not necessarily comfortable with."

Switching plans

Based on Michael Punke's novel and inspired by real-life events, "The Revenant" was supposed to be I񡲲itu's next film after his 2010 Spanish-language drama "Biutiful." But when the long-gestating project again became stuck in development, I񡲲itu began assembling writers to work on "Birdman," which is loosely based on his own creative struggles.

A window opened to make that movie in spring 2013, so I񡲲itu tabled "Revenant" before returning to it this fall with the backing of 20th Century Fox and "Birdman" financier New Regency. Scheduled for release at Christmas, it will be I񡲲itu's first movie with a big studio; others were with a specialty division or independent distributor.

I񡲲itu has acknowledged he had become something of an on-set powder keg with movies like "Biutiful." So he has sought new ways to relax.

On the set of "Revenant," he told The Times, he has instituted a practice in which a bell sounds at an appointed hour, forcing everyone to stop working for a short time. That leads to a healthier life, he said, and makes for better work besides.

Of course, success comes with its own burdens. Having fought off the perception that he was either relentlessly downbeat or too much of a one-trick pony before "Birdman," I񡲲itu will now confront a different obstacle -- himself.

Tom Hooper, whose "The King's Speech" also won the picture-director-screenplay trifecta, in 2011, found many pundits unholstering their guns for his follow-up "Les Mis鲡bles" two years later.

Already, the "Birdman" director's newest iteration has, well, ruffled some feathers. Beginning with this film, the director dropped the "Gonzalez" portion of his name (it is, in keeping with the Mexican convention, the family name). He has said it was simply a matter of trying to offer less of a mouthful to American audiences, but some on social media have seen it as a more troubling sign of deracination.

It is a concern that might be addressed by I񡲲itu's own invoking of his heritage, as he did at the conclusion of Sunday's Oscars, when he joked about the successive director wins by himself and countryman Alfonso Cuar󮮠Guillermo del Toro, who is the third leg of that Mexican directors tripod, said that I񡲲itu has become a role model for many aspiring filmmakers in his native country.

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"When we were growing up you could not have more than one model," Del Toro said, explaining that it was local Spanish-language cinema or nothing at all. "That is why I think Alejandro getting [many awards] and keeping the chain going is sending a message that it's not a fluke."

I񡲲itu said in an interview last week that going through the release rollout and awards circuit offered its own perspective about what was possible, as both a filmmaker and person.

"The impact of this film made me feel happy and proud, but at the same time hopeful that ... people recognize themselves," he said. The real people they are, he added, "not the comfortable idea of who we would love to be."

Looking to the bigger picture, he added, "I think there's an infinite ocean that can be explored [cinematically], which we haven't because of financial constraints. This has become more important than the art itself, and I hope this opened a tiny little door."

Times staff writer Lorraine Ali contributed to this report.