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— by Corey Moss
Oliver Stone spent more than a decade writing and developing his Alexander the Great biopic, so when it came to casting the iconic conqueror, few actors fit his standards — including Colin Farrell.
"He was black-haired when he came in, like an Irish tough guy, a street punk. Tattoos. I couldn't understand 80 percent of what he said," Stone, the firebrand director behind "Any Given Sunday" and "Natural Born Killers," said recently, recalling an initial meeting during which an animated Farrell broke glasses while he talked with his hands. "I said, 'The guy's feisty. He's fascinating. But he's not Alexander. He doesn't have the requisite dignity.' "
Stone eventually caught Farrell in "Minority Report" and "The Recruit" and decided to bring him in for a screen test anyway.
"I was wrong," Stone said. "We put some blond mops on his head, just to see if he could play blond, and he was spectacular. It was the worst wig ever, but [in 'Alexander'] he could use his real hair, and he's beautiful in the movie. He's Celtic, and the Macedonians were Celtic. They were sort of a patchwork kingdom, and they were rougher-edged than the Greeks."
Now that "Alexander" is finished and due in theaters next Wednesday, Stone is convinced that Farrell was born to play Alexander the Great, the same way he believes Val Kilmer was born to play Jim Morrison in "The Doors." "It's like lightning in a jar, you know. He's just special," Stone said.
For Farrell, the initial appeal of "Alexander" was all about working with Stone.
"I hadn't even read the script when I met Oliver, and I hadn't read the script when I did the screen test," the actor said. "Finally, when I realized that I was gonna get the chance to play the part, Oliver sent me the script, and it was just f---ing incredible. I hadn't read anything like it, and I haven't since. The character of Alexander was incredible. It was an opportunity of a lifetime."
From slick charlatan Stu Shepard in "Phone Booth" to the robust Bullseye in "Daredevil," Farrell has certainly played some memorable characters since he emerged on the scene in 2000's "Tigerland." But Alexander the Great is a career-making role that could elevate him to the status of Russell Crowe or Mel Gibson, two actors best known for their parts in epics ("Gladiator" and "Braveheart," respectively).
For what it's worth, Farrell's "Alexander" co-stars believe his performance is worthy of such comparisons.
"Men can watch this, and instead of feeling like, 'Oh, there's Alexander, the girls will like him,' they can be like, 'That's the kind of guy I'd go into battle with. I like him. I'd be his brother.' That takes a certain kind of man, and he is that guy," said Angelina Jolie, who plays Alexander's mother, Olympias. "Colin is bold. He's one of a kind, and he is completely honest and open."
"You see him in a sexier scene, or you see him when he's drinking or partying, and you go, 'Oh, I've heard about that Colin. I know exactly what that's gonna look like,' " added Rosario Dawson, who plays Alexander's wife, Roxane. "But you never once see Colin Farrell in this movie. You see Alexander. Everything that he did had intention behind it. He's a really talented person, and he was able to do that because he's so free in his own life and was able to feel the connection with someone over the ages."
Jared Leto, who plays Alexander's lifelong friend and companion, Hephaestion, credits Farrell's "incredible" performance to his leadership qualities and said the Irish actor was constantly motivating the cast. "He seems to have that certain charisma that people are attracted to," Leto said.
Before shooting began, Farrell underwent months of intense sword and horse training and spent countless hours discussing the character with an Alexander the Great historian. When the cameras started rolling, he threw himself into the part more than he had with any other role.
"There were very few scenes where you could go, 'Today's an easy day,' or 'This is a scene I could sit back on,' " Farrell said. "You're telling this story about this man at this time, and it's 32 years of one of the most incredibly lived lives the world has ever known. How do you condense that into two and a half hours? You can be sure that each moment of the film is gonna be very tense, filled with a lot of different emotions and thoughts."
The highlights of shooting for Farrell were what he calls "two of the most incredible battle scenes ever put on film," scenes that let him exercise his own daredevil tendencies.
"You can take all the precautions you want, but when someone says 'action' and 400 men start screaming and swinging swords, and 70 horses and 20 elephants start running towards each other, it's gonna get f---ing messy," Farrell said. "There's going to be cuts and bruises and knocks and a little bit of concussion here and there and everywhere."
For all of the credit Stone and the cast give him, Farrell believes the true star of "Alexander" is Stone's script. "There's all the things that we go through in life," Farrell said. "Greed, jealousy, questions of destiny, love, faith, betrayal, trust, hope, despair. All these emotions that we all feel at various stages of our life are contained within the story at a very high level."
Farrell would even line up to see Stone's film if it starred another actor, he said, naming the one who happens to be attached to a competing Alexander the Great film project.
"For me, honestly, if I wasn't in the thing," he said, "if I knew this was coming up, and if Leonardo DiCaprio was on the poster, I'd be dying to see it."
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Photo: Jaap Buitendijk
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