 In 2015 , DiCaprio produced and starred in the biographical western thriller The Revenant , which is based on in part on Michael Punke 's 2002 novel of the same name , which itself is inspired by the life of frontiersman Hugh Glass . The film was well received by critics , with Justin Change of Variety reviewing : " Bleak as hell but considerably more beautiful , this nightmarish plunge into a frigid , forbidding American outback is a movie of pitiless violence , grueling intensity and continually breathtaking imagery " . As of October 2015 , the company is filming Live by Night , a crime film based on the 2012 novel of same name . 
