To assure the safety of the film’s animals, noted conservationist Richard Lair, co-founder of the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, one of the world’s most prominent elephant sanctuaries, and the Thai government’s chief veterinarian, Dr. Preecha Puangkham, were present at all times during the elephants’ training and filming.
Miraculously, throughout the two-and-a-half-week-long filming of the forest battle, no injuries were caused by the elephants, nor were any animals harmed. “They were amazing,” enthuses Stone of his pachyderm thespians. “It really seemed as if they were enjoying themselves, and their discipline was extraordinary.” Needless to say, the mayhem inflicted upon the elephants in the course of battle was entirely fabricated by the special and visual effects departments, along with Steve Painter’s busy prosthetics division, which was responsible throughout filming for providing extraordinarily realistic depictions of the cruel physical effects of war on humans and animals alike.
While none of the animals were hurt, the ferocity of the forest battle, however carefully planned and staged, resulted in a fair share of bruises among the actors and stunt players, including Colin Farrell. At some points in the battle, it was nearly impossible to distinguish Farrell’s real blood from his character’s stage blood. Joining Farrell on the injured list were a few of his co-stars, none of whom sat out the battle on the sidelines. Like the warriors they became on film, the actors sucked it up and hurled themselves back into the fray when they were needed.
In preparation for the staging of the film’s massive battles between clashing armies, armorer Richard Hooper was charged with producing the vast array of weaponry utilized by the Macedonian, Persian, Indian and Scythian armies. Because of the intense realism demanded by Stone in every aspect of the film, and certainly the crucial battle sequences, Hooper notes that “We tried to make the weapons function exactly as we believe they were used.” Hooper and his crew would sometimes have to equip 1,500 soldiers per day, necessitating the creation of 12,000 pieces of equipment: approximately 1,000 sarissas, 2,000 shields, 2,000 swords, 750 bows and 9,000 arrows. As with all of the film’s creative accomplishments, every weapon was designed and fabricated especially for the production.
Most of the weapons were tooled by Hooper of actual metal, with realistic plastic versions created for stunt and horse riding situations, although the spears and arrows were rubber-tipped for safety’s sake. Hooper did have to make some compromises in the design of the weaponry for the sake of filming. “We slightly cheated on the length of the sarissas,” he says. “A 18-foot-long pike is very difficult to manage, so we shortened the length down to 14 feet. We also had to lengthen swords and make some of the shields narrower or shorter in diameter to make it easier for the actors and stuntmen to handle them during the battles.”
To outfit the soldiers and animals for the forest battle sequence, Hooper added 500 shields and the same number of swords, clubs and axes; 150 bows and 2,000 arrows; and livery for the Macedonian and Persian cavalry, as well as for the elephants. Art director Stuart Rose was assigned to create and maintain the elephants’ elaborate armor.
With tremendous effort and skill on the part of the film’s massive cast and behind-the-scenes visionaries, Stone was able to finally realize his dream of capturing the vivid spectacle of Alexander the Great’s military victories as his army traveled across a world that he first dominated, and ultimately united.
"Alexander" will be released on November 24, 2004, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and Intermedia.
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Prepared and provided by Warner Bros. Pictures in support of "Alexander," starring Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Rosario Dawson, Val Kilmer and Jared Leto.
