Colin Farrell said the most dangerous scene he’s ever had to perform in during his acting career was in 2004 action-war film “Alexander,” in which he starred as Alexander the Great alongside costar Angelina Jolie as Olympias.
“The hardest sequence I’ve ever been a part of was there was a battle scene shot for ‘Alexander’ in the desert of Morocco way back when,” Farrell said during a conversation with Margot Robbie for Collider. “We were four weeks doing the Battle of Gaugamela, and so it was four weeks coming in every day.”
When Robbie inquired about the scene’s inclusion of elephants, he said that’s what made the scene as life-threatening as it was.
“That was the most dangerous thing,” the “Penguin” star explained. “Let’s go with the most dangerous thing I’ve ever been a part of.”
He added: “They would say action, and there was eight head of elephant, 200 head of horse, and 800 background, 800 foreground, 800 x, 800 Thai men who would move. Eight elephants, 200 horses and 800 men would go on action.”
While no one died, there were injuries, Farrell shared.
“One guy broke his leg on horseback. That was it. Nobody died. It was a miracle. They wouldn’t do it, now,” Farrell said, seemingly referring to Hollywood’s safety boundaries.
The film, which premiered in theaters on Nov. 24, 2004, also starred Anthony Hopkins, Rosario Dawson, Val Kilmer, Jared Leto and was directed by Oliver Stone. “Alexander” focused on the Greek conqueror’s rise to power and the empire he built during his early 30s.
Even before filming, Stone, whom Farrell has applauded as an “amazing director and an incredible man,” referred to the movie as his toughest challenge.
“It’s an exhausting process,” Stone said at the time in an interview with Total Film. “We’re shooting on three continents – in Morocco, Thailand and London. It’s the biggest challenge of my life. I’m quite nervous. I hope to survive and be smiling by February, but it’s tough.”
