Oscar-nominated revenge drama The Revenant is out in the UK.

We talk to its director about its ice-cold shoot, modern filmmaking and more.

Freezing sleet stinging the tips of the ears.

Icy north wind like sandpaper against the nipples.

So what prompted Inarritu to go to such lengths to makeThe Revenant?

Those were the questions that were at the front of my mind as I headed to meet Mr Inarritu.

But in those territories, youre trying to concentrate on a tiny little thing but you get lost.

Like, where do you put the camera?

Because everything is massive!

To keep focus is very overwhelming.

Thats the sensation: its very overwhelming.

I would say dramatically, to really pin down an infinite horizon, its really hard to grasp.

When you shoot in a room, thats a symmetrical thing that contains you.

When theres no contention, the sensation is overwhelming you.

Thats a challenge, to do that.

Where do you think that comes from?

That particular style of yours: the very mobile camera.

Its almost omnipresent, isnt it?

Like, someone that is floating, observing, not really judging whats going on.

The camera is a time-space trick.

So yeah, I want the fluidity.

To experience film in a different way, you know?

Your career started in music you were a DJ and you wrote music before you became a filmmaker.

Do you think that comes from music, that flowing style?

Music helps me, normally, to find the rhythm and the pace of a film.

I think, without rhythm, you cant create there is no art.

There is no writing, there is no dancing, there is no music, there is no architecture.

The rhythm is the whole thing.

The music really helps me to understand the movie.

I had a pretty good idea of the rhythm early on I felt comfortable in that territory.

And yes, once you find the rhythm of the film, everything gets easier.

Do you hear it in your head as youre shooting?

I have to find exactly where the transitions have to happen in terms of rhythm.

Because the rhythm creates the dramatic tension.

I think the rhythm is like your heart pounding.

Theres a reason why the heart starts to beat a little more youre responding to something.

I would say it isnt happening a lot.

Or enough, I would say.

I think, unfortunately, everything is becoming about comfort, you know?

A comfortable way to tell a story.

The comfortable way, so that the audience will never be lost.

Or theyre based on known material and franchises.

So everything is about reducing risk, about control.

Original material producing something with physical things that can change, and you have to adapt.

And everybodys embracing that from studios to directors to producers to opinionators on the internet.

They all call it a pipeline now.

They dont call them films.

They call it content in a pipeline!

Which is to say [chuckles], it must be used to sell something.

So when there is no content… That we were supported to do something like this.

Pushing the boat up the mountain almost became a metaphor for the movie itself.

Is that how you felt?

Thats what Im saying.

These great directors took that chance.

To get lost in that sense, and to find something extraordinary.

It was unpredictable it was wasnt told in the way people wanted a war film to be told.

It wasnt in the box of comfort, or made to be easily understood or whatever.

But Coppola was great, because he let himself get lost in something.

When youre out of the box, thats fucking risky.

I think yes, those films are extraordinary in that sense.

Im not saying I achieved that!

I think time will tell whether this film is great or not.

What I like is that I allowed myself to do that.

What motivates you to set yourself those challenges?

Its not about taking risks stupidly or rashly.

I thinkBirdmanand this film, theres a very intrinsic reason to tell the story that way.

And for me, I think, deeply, that… there are two points.

Itll feel different if the storys told that way.

And it will reveal something else.

Nobody can tell me now.

I wouldnt believe somebody if they told me [BirdmanandThe Revenant] were great or they were shit.

I think there hasnt been enough time to really know it.

If you dont allow yourself to do that, then everything becomes about succeeding.

They want success, not a career, you know?

Do you think of yourself as an obsessive filmmaker?

[A long, thoughtful pause] I dont know if Im obsessed.

I think Im very rigorous, you know?

Im very… maybe both words are the same, in a way!

[Laughs] But yeah.

Theres a rigour when Im making something that will be on the screen forever.

I think it has to be right, because you just have one time to do it.

I dont like to do that.

While you were making the film, there were lots of reports about the budget going up.

It was understandable why it did.

But how do you tune that background noise out?

I mean the climate surrounding the film.

LikeApocalypse Now,I suppose.

It sometimes feels as though the press are willing certain films to fail.

How do you deal with that as a filmmaker?

I dont care, honestly, because thats my business.

Im not worried about how a dentist is running his office, do you know what I mean?

Whether or not hes mad with his assistant!

Oh my God, look at the amount of paper hes used!

The problem is that, only in cinema, it costs a lot of money.

They leave a lot of things.

The difference is, that doesnt cost money.

Its not that Im irresponsible every film that Ive done has been responsible.

Every other film Ive done has been in budget.

Everything that was in my control was absolutely planned.

And thanks to that plan, the film was finished.

Without that rigorous plan, the film could have never have been finished.

Now the [press] and things like that?

Suddenly somebody wants to take the narrative of the film in that direction.

Theyre picking out the point of view of handful from 300 people and trying put that out.

Thats something you cant control.

Theyre looking for drama?

Okay, you want drama?

Theres drama in everything I do.

But I was just making the film.

How do you think youll push yourself in the next film?

What challenges do you think youll set yourself next time?

I dont have a next film.

I have a life in front of me.

I would like to become very ordinary!

[Laughs]

Alejandro Inarritu, thank you very much!

The Revenantis out now in UK cinemas.