Trivia for
Alexander (2004) More at IMDbPro »

• In December 2003, a group of homeless people in Stockholm, Sweden, started queuing for tickets to "Alexander", scheduled to premiere in November 2004. They intended to live in tents outside a movie theater in the city center for a year. This silent protest, intended to draw attention to the homeless in the Swedish capitol, was inspired by a local politician who said it is both legal and fully acceptable for fans to camp out for weeks in central Stockholm to get tickets to a movie premiere. At the time, the movie in question was The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
  
  
• Some scenes from the film were supposed to be shot in India but the Indian elephants weren't well trained so they had to shoot it in Thailand instead.
  
  
• Colin Farrell broke his ankle and arm during filming when he fell down a stairway.
  
  
• Val Kilmer gained over 50 pounds and stopped working out for the plump role of Philip.
  
  
• The biography of Alexander by Oxford University professor Robin Lane Fox was an original inspiration and source of information for director Oliver Stone. As an historical advisor, Professor Fox didn't get an on screen credit; his price for giving his advice was to be allowed to take a place at the head of what is one of the largest cavalry charges ever filmed. Professor Fox was used to riding around the English countryside, but gladly dressed up as a Macedonean cavalry officer to live his dream of charging for Alexander.
  
  
• Brad Pitt was considered for the role of Hephaestion, but turned down the role due to personal concerns with the character.
  
  
• Oliver Stone previously tried to mount the project with Tom Cruise in the title role.
  
  
• Sean Connery was originally considered for the role that was eventually offered to Val Kilmer.
  
  
• The movie was originally scheduled for release on 5 November 2004 in the USA, but was moved to 24 November 2004. Studio executives stated that the move was to put it in a more competitive position for Oscar consideration.
  
  
• Oliver Stone and Val Kilmer originally discussed Alexander while filming The Doors (1991).
  
  
• During the battle of Gaugamela, the command "Back and to the left! Back and to the left!" is shouted, which is the same as a famous line in an earlier Oliver Stone movie, JFK (1991).
  
  
• Val Kilmer had to undergo over an hour of daily makeup to look older and don the scar tissue that covers the eye that Philip lost in battle.
  
  
• Early posters and trailers did not credit Christopher Kyle as a writer; Oliver Stone and Laeta Kalogridis were credited for the story and Oliver Stone for the screenplay.
  
  
• Heath Ledger was originally considered for the role of Alexander before Colin Farrell was cast.
  
  
• Alexander is commonly depicted in statues with eyes raised upwards towards the sun, and hence the many visual references of Alexander always looking towards the sun.
  
  
• Angelina Jolie plays Colin Farrell's mother even though she is less than a year older than he is.
  
  
• The film almost never made it to the theatres in Greece. A group of Greek lawyers decided to try to ban the film on the grounds that Oliver Stone was denigrating the figure of Alexander the Great by making reference to his bisexuality. The film was ultimately given a theatrical release in Greece and premiered at #1.
  
  
• Was nominated for six Razzies, but did not "win" any.
  
  
• Val Kilmer noted that the most challenging parts of the production were actually gaining the weight needed for the role, and the loss of depth perception secondary to mono-vision from the scar tissue makeup covering one eye.
  
  
• Oliver Stone's first choice for the role of King Philip was Liam Neeson, who turned it down.
  
  
• Director Oliver Stone's first choice for the role of Alexander the Great was Russell Crowe, who turned it down.
  
  
• The final scenes of the film had originally been shot in Bangkok, but the dailies revealed that all the film they had used was damaged, forcing Oliver Stone to re-shoot the end of the film.
  
  
• The Irish accents you hear from the Macedonian soldiers were not there to accommodate Colin Farrell as some have asserted. As Macedonians were mostly from more remote hill tribes and were coarser and less civilized than the Greeks, the Celtic accents used in the movie serve to portray fictionally the difference between them and the more refined Greeks, who speak in a more upper class, English accent. Many critics and audience members failed to understand this device.
  
  
• Alexander's Pyrrhic victory at the Hydaspes is actually a combination of two actual battles. The real Hydaspes battle was a much easier victory for the real Alexander, and Porus became one of his allies. The second battle was the siege of Multan, where Alexander was mortally wounded while leading his men as they assaulted the fortress. Both battles were victories.
  
  
• Oliver Stone, after the massive DVD sales of this film, made one other version - "Alexander Revisited; The Final Cut". Revisited is completely revised, using all footage shot (three and a half hours) and is formatted like a traditional epic, with intermission.
  
  
• Ptolemy's final words concerning the plot behind Alexander's death is based on a conspiracy that many, including Robin Lane Fox, state could be one of the best explanations to Alexander's death. However, as incorrectly put, Ptolemy was innocent of the plot, as were five others.
  
  
• Director Cameo: [Oliver Stone] Appears quite clearly as a bearded Macedonian general in close-up at the dedication of the statue of Zeus marking the beginning of the the army's retreat from India back to Babylon.
  
  
• The scene where the men mutiny is a combination of two separate mutinies. In India, the men refused to march on, and Alexander claimed he would go on with his Asian troops. This threat failed, and they turned back. The second mutiny was when it became clear that Alexander wanted to send his veterans home and replace them with Asians. The men claimed that they would all leave with the veterans, but this time it was clear that Alexander very well could replace them with more than competent Persian soldiers. After the execution of the ringleaders (shown in the compressed combination in the film) the men begged forgiveness. One inaccuracy between history and film is that the general Craterus did not publicly speak out at either mutiny.
  
  
• The events that happened after Alexander's death are accurately described. Cassander did indeed wipe out Alexander's surviving family, including his teenage son (also named Alexander).
  
  
• Both John Kavanagh (Parmenion) and Féodor Atkine (Oxyartes) have acted in the "Sharpe" series.
  
  
• Features two actors who have played Elvis Presley; Val Kilmer (King Philip) and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Cassander).
  
  
• The filming for this project was the longest filming period of any film by Oliver Stone. The previous record-holder was Born on the Fourth of July (1989).
  
  
• Is by far the most expensive Oliver Stone film yet made.
  
  

• SPOILERS In the theatrical version of the film, Cleitus insults Alexander repeatedly, until Alexander, in a drunken rage, stabs him through the middle with a spear. In the Revisited version, however, Alexander is restrained for a time and Cleitus is dragged out of the room before returning of his own free will and taunting Alexander until his death. This is a reference to the fact that many historians' facts differ on whether Cleitus left the room or not before being killed.
  
  

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