Epic Elephant Battle: Farrell’s Near-Death Experience on ’Alexander’ Set

The filming of Oliver Stone’s film Alexander completed in 2004 remains a very strong memory for Colin Farrell. He notably mentions a scene filmed in Morocco that he considers the most dangerous of his career: the battle in India featuring elephants. "It’s the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done on a film set," says the Irish actor to Collider.

He recounts: "When they said ’action’, there were eight elephants, 200 horses, 800 Thai men in the background and 800 in the foreground. [...] That was it: eight elephants, two hundred horses and eight hundred men in action." While the filming did not turn into a tragedy, "a man broke his leg on a horse," adds the one who played the role of the famous King of Macedonia alongside Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins and Val Kilmer. And to continue: "No one died during the filming of this scene. It’s a miracle. It’s something that wouldn’t be done today."

The actor almost gave up his career because of this film. He will soon be starring in "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey" alongside Margot Robbie.