Vincent Leclerc on The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio, and the unique production style

It's been a busy time for Vincent Leclerc. Besides snagging a role in the Oscar nominated film The Revenant, the 41-year-old Longueuil resident also scored a leading role in the Radio-Canada remake of Les Pays d'en haut.

Before that, he was in the hit police drama 19-2 and was featured in six episodes of the CBC series This Life.

Leclerc sat down with Daybreak's Mike Finnerty to discuss his recent success.

The Revenant is a frontier saga based on the 2003 novel by Michael Punke, which recounts the story of frontiersman Hugh Glass. The lead character, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, seeks revenge after being mauled by a bear and left for dead.

Leclerc plays a French-Canadian fur trapper in the film. Although he appears for a scant few minutes on screen, the filming process was unlike anything he'd done before.

"They would shoot one scene a day, which is unheard of in the film industry," he said.

'You don't want to be that guy'

Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu insisted on using all natural light and long sequence shots which caused many delays during filming.

"Certain scenes are like a few minutes long, so you don't want to be that guy in the back going, 'Sorry, I messed up. It was my fault,' and 'Okay. let's replace the horses, get the smoke going again, we want some more snow.' You don't want to be that guy."

While filming scenes in Alberta, Leclerc got the chance to share a set with Hollywood a-lister DiCaprio, but not as much as he expected. DiCaprio kept to himself during much of the shooting.

"He didn't come over and we were like, 'Well maybe he should. You know a normal guy would come over'," Leclerc said.

Then, him and his fellow actors remembered he was the lead in Titanic, the biggest box-office hit in history at the time.

"His life just went upside down. So you would be a little more guarded and you would be a little more to yourself if you can't walk any street in any country in the world."

'I can check that off my list'

Leclerc also had the opportunity to film scenes with Tom Hardy, who was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

"I had a great time with Tom Hardy, who's very accessible, who speaks French, he's a very nice guy," Leclerc said.

The Revenant has picked up the most Oscar nods this year with 12 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director.

"I don't know how many times in my life I'm going to be, even for a small part, in a movie that gets nominated for the Golden Globes and the Oscars," said Leclerc. "So yeah, I can check that off my list."