[3] Following a year-long professional hiatus in 2014 after being diagnosed with a type of throat cancer, Sakamoto's work on The Revenant marked his return to the industry despite still being in the middle of recovery.

[4][5] In October 2015, it was revealed that Alva Noto (the stage name for Carsten Nicolai) and The National's Bryce Dessner would join Sakamoto in scoring the film.

Both films slouch toward inevitable spasms of bloodshed, with long pensive stretches in between... Sakamoto slowly progresses through glacial chords that build toward a fortissimo horizon...

Speaking to Indiewire, Iñárritu said The Academy is demanding that the way young musicians approach making music for film is narrow.

This music is extracted from the fourth movement of Messiaen's aforementioned suite and was later incorporated into his Quatuor pour la fin du temps.