The 41-year-old star – who played American frontiersman Hugh Glass, who sustains injuries from a brutal bear attack and is left for dead by his fellow adventurer Jackson (Tom Hardy) – filmed for seven months in sub-zero temperatures and took shelter inside a dead horse in one scene.
And despite winning a Golden Globe and being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, Leonardo confessed he won’t ever work in those conditions again.
Speaking from the European premiere of The Revenant at London’s The Empire Leicester Square on Thursday night – where temperatures were almost freezing on the red carpet – he moaned to BANG Showbiz: “I haven’t been back in cold weather for six or seven months [until now].
“Something in [director Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s] eyes, spoke to me about this story.
“But I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do a movie like this for the rest of my career.”
Despite the memories of the cold still being fresh, the actor was very “proud” to tell the story.
Leonardo said: “We’re all very proud of it. It’s incredible to do a movie like this, it’s such an experimental thing… It’s about adaptation to your circumstances, survival and perseverance of the human spirit.”
Leonardo was joined on the red carpet at the premiere by his co-stars, including Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter and Paul Anderson.