From The Missoulian 

Ed. Note: The North American hearth industry has a soft spot in its heart for Libby, Montana. During the last half of this century’s first decade, it raised approximately $2 million (in cash, products and services) to replace every pre-EPA stove in Libby. We felt readers of this eNEWS letter would enjoy the following account.

The Oscars may have gone to the film’s star, director and cinematographer, but the latest news about “The Revenant” was coming out of a motel in Libby, Montana, on Monday.

Yvonne Hill, who owns the Sandman Motel where “The Revenant” stunt crew spent much of last July while some filming for the movie was completed on the Kootenai River, said a stunt double for Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio was twice injured while going over Kootenai Falls.

“The first time I think a helicopter blew him off course and he missed the six-foot window he had, and after he went over the falls he hit so hard it crushed his heel,” Hill said. “The movie people asked him if he could do another take, and he said yes. The second time he went over he shattered his leg.”

“Nobody else has ever gone over Kootenai Falls and lived to tell about it,” Hill added.

Alex Krimm, the stuntman, was taken by ambulance to Kalispell Regional Medical Center after the second mishap, according to Hill, and has undergone four surgeries in the months since.

“He’s probably got 27 pins in it,” Hill said, adding that Krimm’s name was then left off the film’s credits.

Four months after Krimm was hurt, director Alejandro G. Inarritu – named best director on Sunday for the second year in a row – was still denying rumors that “The Revenant” had been dogged by “hellish” working conditions, crew defections and injuries on the set.

“The facts speak for themselves,” Inarritu told Jeremy Kay of Screen International magazine in a story published on Screendaily.com in December. “There were no injuries in all of the film, at all. No actor, nobody got injured.”