Colin Farrell stars as one of history’s most celebrated figures in director Oliver Stone’s epic drama, “Alexander.” The Irish actor, whose well-publicized shenanigans have at times overshadowed his stellar work on screen, chatted up a roomful of reporters about everything from being Alexander to the pleasures of fatherhood.
QUESTION: How much did you about Alexander the Great prior to your involvement in this project?
COLIN FARRELL: I knew very little. When I was a kid I knew that there was somebody called Alexander the Great, but I didn’t know if he was Russian or Greek or Macedonian or what he was.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the boot camp you went through to prepare for the film?
CF: There ended up being 170 men in boot camp. For three weeks we lived pretty stringently out in the desert. The food rations were very, very small. There were seriously high levels of frustration. All the boys were missing their families. It was tough but important, because it brought us together on a number of different levels.
Q: What’s Oliver Stone like? CF: What do you want to know, man? He’s a (expletive). He’s unpatriotic. He’s an obnoxious animal who loses his mind seven times a day … all of which are untrue.
Q: What is true then? CF: He’s an incredibly strong man. He’s highly intelligent. He is just an absolute animal on the set — just a bull of a man — and I mean that in the good sense. From sun up ’til sun down and beyond both, he never stops. His brain never stops, and he never stops asking questions.
Q: How does one imbue the greatest conqueror the world has ever known with qualities ordinary folks can relate to?
CF: Alexander was a mortal man. No matter how he at times perceived himself, or whether he was told he was the son of Zeus, at the end of the day you cut him and he bled, you betrayed him and broke his heart. These were things he feared. He didn’t fear his own mortality, and he certainly didn’t fear death — if anything he rushed towards it with a head of steam. But he feared being alone. He feared not having an heir to his throne. He feared failure.
Q: History tells us that Alexander and his best friend and battle commander Hephaistion (Jared Leto) were lovers. Why isn’t this shown in the film?
CF: Whether they lay together or not, their relationship was built on pure and absolute friendship from a very young age until their final breath. People make such a big deal about sex that if they see that it was sexual, they’ll just judge it as that. We wanted the relationship to be more beautiful than that — something purer. (A sexual relationship) is hinted at in the film, but we didn’t want to hit the nail on the head and have people squirming in their seats.
Q: Pierce Brosnan recently mentioned you as a possible replacement as James Bond. Is there any truth to that report?
CF: Pierce has (expletive) hung me, man. Pierce is telling everyone I’m going to be saying “Shaken, not stirred.” The other day I was with some friends, and they wouldn’t stop with the (hums “Bond” theme music). I was, like, (expletive) off! But, really, I never heard a thing about (playing Bond).
Q: You recently became a dad for the first time. How’s it going so far?
CF: I don’t know. I’m a dad, and it’s an amazing feeling. For once, I’ve fallen in love, and I know it’s not going to end.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 26, 2004. Read the original PDF.