MOL
Ottawa
Leonardo DiCaprio spent seven months filming The Revenant in grueling conditions in Canada but at last the end is in sight for both the film and the heartthrob actor's facial hair. The star has been sporting a big, bushy beard he had to grow for his role as a 19th century hunter and fur trapper and it's been getting a lot of attention. On Sunday, Brad Weston, the CEO of production company New Regency, told DailyMail.com that rumors swirling around that DiCaprio, 40, might have fleas in his very furry chin are 'not true.'
DiCaprio has had the full beard for months having grown it last summer before heading to the wilderness outside of Calgary, Alberta, to make the period adventure film with Birdman director Alejandro Iñárritu. Apart from a few days shooting the final battle scene in snow in Argentina at the start of August, all the rest of the work lies in the editing room, Weston said.
That means, he added, that there's no reason now why DiCaprio can't shave off his beard as there are no planned re-shoots, contrary to other published reports. The gossip about fleas started after the National Enquirer claimed one young woman recently got a nasty shock after spotting one of the tiny creatures crawling through the Titanic star's long stubble. There have been reports about disgruntled crew members, frigid conditions and clashes with the Oscar-winning director that made the production somewhat of an endurance test.
But 300 crew members stuck with the project from beginning to end helping to realize Iñárritu and DiCaprio's vision for the movie. Filming took place from late September through early May and was shot in sequence in what Weston described as a joint creative decision by director and star to use only natural light and make it as realistic as possible.
'They both wanted to keep the trajectory of the story, to capture what Leo goes through,' Weston told DailyMail.com. Production had to move south, where it's now winter, in search of snow because a warm winter in Calgary meant there was no longer snow on the ground for the climactic showdown by the time principal photography wrapped.