Leo DiCaprio Really, Really Wants That Oscar

Why hasn't Leonardo DiCaprio won an Oscar yet? It's one the greatest questions of modern time. Does the Academy dislike him? Are we all somehow deluded in believing that DiCaprio, 41, is a good actor when he's really not? (Obviously, no.) Or are the many, many memes dedicated in his honor of not having an Oscar yet so good, that the need to keep DiCaprio Oscar-less has become priority? Whatever the reason, DiCaprio not having won one of film's top honors has been a long-running joke every Academy Awards season, but this year just may be different. In 2016, Leonardo DiCaprio could finally win the Oscar for Best Actor. After all, it seems like DiCaprio's campaigning hard for some gold with The Revenant — or at the very least, for some respect for what he's undergone.

And there's a real argument that he deserves it. Ever since he was nominated for What's Eating Gilbert Grape all the way back in 1993, DiCaprio has shown that he's willing to go to distance when it comes to his films. In the time since, DiCaprio's has worked so hard and sacrificed so much, never as much as he did for The Revenant , Alejandro González Iñárritu's grueling survival/revenge film that was grueling to shoot, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It goes without saying that DiCaprio's done a lot for his role as Hugh Glass.

"I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do," DiCaprio told Yahoo Movies in an interview back in October. As for the result of all his sacrifice? "It’s going to be one of the most unique film-going experiences that audiences have seen in modern times," he said. Here's a list of the unbelievable things DiCaprio has done over the course of shooting The Revenant. DiCaprio has...

Gone In And Out Of Frozen Rivers

"[I was] enduring freezing cold and possible hypothermia constantly," DiCaprio told Yahoo Movies. Two words: holy sh*t.

Slept In Animal Carcasses

According to The Hollywood Reporter, DiCaprio did this, which is basically one of my worst nightmares come true. Leo, why?! Oh that's right — because he's probably willing to go to the depths of hell and back if it means having a shot at winning the one award he's long overdue for. Do the Oscars not see what they've driven this man to?!

Ate Raw Bison Liver

"The bad part is the membrane around it," DiCaprio told Variety in a recent interview on eating the real deal. "It’s like a balloon. When you bite into it, it bursts in your mouth." Gross. The thing is, DiCaprio, he told Variety, had options. A fake liver had been made from jelly by the props department, but DiCaprio felt that it didn't look right. So he willingly ate a real one, knowing full well that he risked getting violently ill or contracting who-knows-what from consuming a raw animal part. You poor, dedicated man.

Had Ants Crawl All Over Him

For one scene in the film, Iñárritu had ants imported from British Columbia (since there weren't any in snowy Calgary, Canada and Iñárritu is a stickler for detail). Those ants eventually ended up all over DiCaprio, according to Variety. Again, another nightmare of mine experienced by the one and only Leo.

Got Sick Repeatedly

Not only was DiCaprio facing difficulties on-camera, but he struggled off-camera as well. "I got the flu quite a few times," he told Variety, also adding that in one scene of the film, where his character, Glass, is hacking out phlegm, that's actually DiCaprio himself hacking due to illness.

Endured A Grody Beard For A Year And A Half

According to Variety, DiCaprio wasn't able to shave off his unkempt Hugh Glass beard until late July, when he could finally shoot the film’s flashback scenes. "I had that beard for a year and a half," DiCaprio said. "It becomes like a spouse. You sleep with it. It was like shaving off dreads." Okay, so this one isn't as nearly as bad as the other stuff, but still unfortunate in its own right, let's be real.

Now that it's established that DiCaprio is willing to look potential death in the eye in order to give the most authentic, dazzling performance in The Revenant, I dare the Academy to skip out on rewarding DiCaprio. He is begging for it! At this rate, if The Revenant doesn't do it for him, then obviously he is going to have to go to even more drastic measures in order to woo his way to an Oscar. Though I can't really see how DiCaprio can do anymore than he has in The Revenant, unless he magically defies method acting and the logistics of humanity to, IDK, die and come back to life on screen in the span of under three seconds. But even then, that might not be enough to impress the Oscar voters. In any case, DiCaprio's done the hard work and I applaud him for it. Now it's your move, Academy Awards.

Images: 20th Century Fox (2); Giphy (6)