The Revenant makes you want to put on boots and go outside, which is a strange thing to say about a film on surviving the cold.
Much of it was shot across Kananaskis Country and the Bow Valley, with a portion filmed at Horseshoe Canyon in the Canadian Badlands, according to Travel Alberta. That’s a big spread, with mountain valleys on one side, layered sun-baked badlands on the other, and a camera that loves both. The same Bow River turns up in Legends of the Fall, set in Montana but filmed in Alberta.
Per Travel Alberta, the crew shot using only natural light, a bold call when your mountains throw long shadows by mid-afternoon. They also staged the avalanche at Fortress Mountain, with explosives dropped from a plane while the cameras rolled. That’s a lot of effort for a few seconds of snow, and it shows on screen.
Visit Calgary points out that you can follow the path of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Hugh Glass, through Kananaskis and the Drumheller badlands. The movie hands you a ready-made road trip. Start with the mountains. Kananaskis has lakes that look painted on, and the one in the photo above, Upper Kananaskis Lake, is the sort of water that makes you stop talking mid-sentence.
The same country has played other films. Visit Calgary notes Elbow Falls is where Jeremy Renner’s character climbs out of icy water in The Bourne Legacy, so one rushing river can claim two blockbuster moments.
Filming a story about the wild means you can’t fake the wild. Snow has to be real, and the mountain behind the actor has to be big enough to make a person look small. Kananaskis managed it without breaking a sweat. It’s a provincial playground that happens to double as a movie set, and locals simply call it a good Saturday.
Alberta has history with this. Hollywood has been showing up with trucks and cameras for generations, and you can read about an earlier wave in when Hollywood packed up for Banff and Jasper in 1953.
Pull up a few frames from the film, pick the one that gets you, and look for its real-life cousin. A summer afternoon in Kananaskis beats any streaming night. Pack layers, though. Even in July, those mountains have opinions about the weather.
Also on the site, the Calgary Film Centre began as a City-owned studio, and Cool Runnings slid into Calgary and never really left.
Quick answers
Much of The Revenant was shot across Kananaskis Country and the Bow Valley, west of Calgary, with a portion filmed at Horseshoe Canyon in the Canadian Badlands, according to Travel Alberta. The avalanche scene was staged at Fortress Mountain in Kananaskis.
Per Travel Alberta, the crew staged the avalanche at Fortress Mountain in Kananaskis, with explosives dropped from a plane while the cameras rolled. The crew also shot using only natural light.
Yes. Visit Calgary points out that you can follow the path of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Hugh Glass, through Kananaskis and the Drumheller badlands. It makes a ready-made road trip from Calgary through mountain valleys and layered badlands.
Kananaskis Country, the Bow Valley and Fortress Mountain supply the mountain scenery, while Horseshoe Canyon in the Canadian Badlands adds sun-baked layers. Together they give Alberta a big spread on screen, from snowy peaks to dry canyon walls.
Sources: Travel Alberta, 10 Hollywood blockbusters filmed in Alberta; Travel Alberta, movies and TV shows filmed in Alberta; Visit Calgary, 9 famous filming locations.
More from the archive: How Alberta Ballet Found Its Calgary Home and The Calgary Fringe Found Its Home in Inglewood.
