Leonardo DiCaprio said The Revenant was about man’s relationship with the natural world as he accepted his Oscar. Alejandro Iñárritu, who won the award for best director, said that it contained a lesson for Hollywood’s struggles to recognise black acting talent.
And Michael Punke, who wrote the story upon which the film was based, sat in the audience at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, cautiously avoiding interviews, red carpet photographs or anything that could be construed as a public statement — not out of modesty but because of his day job. Mr Punke is America’s ambassador to the World Trade Organisation in Geneva and federal rules prohibit him from profiting from his position.
When the film premiered in Los Angeles, Mr Punke was in a concrete tower block in Nairobi, participating in frequently sleepless negotiations over a $1.3 trillion trade deal for GPS systems, semi-conductors and touch screens.
“He is also lead negotiator in the EU-US trade negotiations,” Keith Rockwell, a spokesman for the organisation, said. “He’s very busy.” Mr Punke had not mentioned he had written a tale of bear mauling. Mr Rockwell said he only found out about it through his son and initially said “pull the other one”. However, trade talks delegates soon began to tease Mr Punke about “his buddy Leo”, Mr Rockwell added.
Mr Punke, who grew up in Wyoming and studied international law, had read a snippet of a story about a trapper named Hugh Glass who was mauled by a bear, then dragged himself through the wilderness in pursuit of the men who left him for dead. He wrote the book by rising at 4.30am over several years. It was published to good reviews in 2002 but sold about 15,000 copies.
