Leonardo may finally get his Oscar

Leonardo DiCaprio eats a piece of real bison liver in his new movie The Revenant, a harrowing tale of revenge and survival in a frigid setting of the American Old West. Is this what the actor has to do to win an Oscar, after 25 years of acting and five Academy Award nominations but, ultimately, no statuette?

The original plan was for him to bite into a simulated organ but DiCaprio said it looked fake. “I wanted to get the real thing,” he told NBC’s Today show. “It was completely disgusting. My reaction is very much on screen – a nauseating one.”

DiCaprio, 41, won the Golden Globe for best actor for portraying Hugh Glass out on the frontier of 1820s America. The movie, by Mexican director Alejandro Inarritu, is based on a true story.

Glass is betrayed by colleagues who leave him for dead and kill his half-Indian son. Glass must survive, without a weapon, in a harsh landscape with only one thing on his mind: revenge. DiCaprio said the movie captures “the poetry of what it means to have all the chips stacked against you and the triumph of the human spirit”.

The film won three awards: best drama, best actor and best director (Inarritu). DiCaprio, who got a standing ovation from his Hollywood peers, said he wanted to share the award with indigenous communities around the world.

“It is time that we recognise your history and that we protect your indigenous lands from corporate interests,” said DiCaprio. The Martian, the tale of an astronaut stranded alone on Mars, won two top prizes – best comedy film and best actor in a comedy for actor Matt Damon. The two films are now in prime position as Hollywood’s annual awards season heats up ahead of the Oscars on February 28.

A-listers Kate Winslet (best supporting actress in the biopic Steven Jobs) and Sylvester Stallone (best supporting actor in Creed, in which he reprised his iconic role of boxer Rocky Balboa). Brie Larson won the Globe for best actress for Room.