Bear Rape In The Revenant? Here's The Real Story

We’ve heard a lot of things coming from the set of Leonardo DiCaprio’s new movieThe Revenant. The movie, about a man trying to survive in the rugged wilderness, appears to have been as tough on the cast and crew as it was supposed to be for the characters. However, of all the things that DiCaprio’s character must go through in the film, there is one thing we can now confirm he won’t have to go through: He will not be raped by a bear. 

There’s a sentence I never thought I’d type in my life. If you’ve seen any of the trailers for Revenant, you’ve probably seen clips of Leonardo DiCaprio being attacked by a large bear. However, the conversation started to change a bit when Drudge Report started a rumor that in said scene, DiCaprio’s character, Hugh Glass, is actually... raped by said bear. A spokesperson for 20th Century Fox has now come out and spoken with Entertainment Weekly specifically to debunk this crazy rumor: 

As anyone who has seen the movie can attest, the bear in the film is a female who attacks Hugh Glass because she feels he might be threatening her cubs. There is clearly no rape scene with a bear.

That’s perhaps the craziest thing about this insane rumor. The Revenant has already screened for several critics in order to be considered for year-end awards. People have already seen the movie. If "bear rape" was an actual thing, it would have likely come out before now. The alleged scene also makes no sense. If we, as the audience, know this is a mother protecting her babies, then even if the scene appears to show rape, we know that's not the case. People have spoken about how violent the movie is, potentially needlessly so, you’d think a scene as graphic as this one would have been mentioned already.

The early buzz for The Revenant has been strong. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu is following up on his Oscar success Birdman with another film that is likely to receive award notice. Leonardo DiCaprio is still looking for his first Oscar win, and this one might very well get him another nomination. If you haven’t seen DiCaprio getting attacked - not raped - by a bear, check out the trailer.

The Revenant opens in limited release on Christmas Day in order to be considered for the Academy Awards and will then see wide release in January.