In an exclusive first look for Entertainment Weekly, Leonardo DiCaprio gets down and dirty for his role in The Revenant, Birdman writer-director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's next film.

DiCaprio plays High Glass, an American fur trapper and frontiersman in the 1880s who's left for dead by his partners after a grizzly bear attack. DiCaprio stars alongside Tom Hardy, Will Poulter and Domnhall Gleeson, the men who abandoned Glass.

"He’s a brave, incredible actor. I’m so surprised about how good he is," Inarritu said of the actor. "I think there’s a profound understanding of humanity that I can see through his eyes."

Inarritu chose to film The Reverant with natural light in remote locations, an unusual move that means that Inarritu and his cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity) can only shoot for a few hours each day. "It’s a very experimental thing that we’re doing here… I’m now addicted to doing things that can fail horribly or maybe that can give us a surprise. We are all into it," explained Inarritu, who's no stranger to pushing the boundaries of filmmaking.

The Revenant is scheduled for release on Dec. 25. Visit Entertainment Weekly for more photos.