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© DR - ALEXANDRE d'Oliver Stone (2004) p16
14/12/2011 19:16
Trivia (partiel)
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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. *
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).
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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. *
Brad Pitt was considered for the role of Hephaestion, but turned down the role due to personal concerns with the character. (ha ha !il fallait qu'il soit complêtement défiguré)
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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.
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At the wine orgy near the end of the film, Nearchus is dressed as Dionysus, the God of Wine and Ecstasy. Alexander wears a massive lion skin, like his supposed ancestor Heracles.
Near the end of the film, Ptolemy mentions that one of the influential generals in the east of Asia after Alexander's death was Seleucus. While he is barely mentioned in the film, Seleucus and his dynasty would go on to take almost all of Alexander's Asian territories.
July 10th, 2014: The elephant actor Phlai Khlao in this film died at age 50 from poisoning by ivory poachers near Ayutthaya, Thailand. His mahout Naret Wangkalung, 32, has been arrested by Thai police under suspicion of conspiracy to murder.
Val Kilmer gained over 50 pounds and stopped working out for the plump role of Philip.
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Colin Farrell broke his ankle and arm during filming when he fell down a stairway.
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During the Indian battle, Alexander sends messengers to his cavalry commanders. The first messenger he speaks to is named Meleager. After Alexander's death, an infantry commander named Meleager attempted to rouse the army into disowning Alexander's half-Asian heir in favour of his slow-witted half-brother by Philip. This led to the wars between Alexander's generals that lasted for years afterward.
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 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.
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Baz Luhrmann was originally going to make a different version of Alexander, starring 'Leonardo Dicaprio'. But he dropped the idea when Oliver Stone wanted to make this movie.
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.
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When Alexander is facing a mutiny by his men at the Beas river, Craterus' speech mentions that many men he knew had died. He mentions that some died of disease, others were butchered in Scythia by the banks of the Oxus. This comment references Alexander's campaign against Spitamenes, a guerrilla leader whose military tactics led to a massacre of two thousand mercenaries serving Alexander. While these battles are not seen, Spitamenes' severed head is shown and is referenced to by Ptolemy as the last rebel leader, whose head was presented to Alexander by his former allies (Spitamenes was indeed killed by his own allies and his head was sent as a peace offering).
Almost all of the Greek youths in the gymnasium were actually wrestling with one another for most of the scenes. Only when the camera was nearby were they performing choreographed moves. However the match between Alexander and Hephaistion was choreographed from start to finish.
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Before he makes his suicidal charge during the Indian battle, Alexander remarks, "Isn't it a lovely thing to live with great courage, and to die leaving an everlasting fame!" This paraphrases part of the opening lines to Alexandre le grand (1956). *
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. *
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.
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A personal message from Oliver Stone was inserted with the 2-DVD set of Alexander Revisited in which he explains his reasons for this third version of the movie. According to him "I believe this version now (3.5 hours) is my clearest interpretation of Alexander's incredible life. For those who didn't appreciate the original, rest assured this is my last pass, as there is no more footage to be found." Although the latter may be true, this doesn't mean, nor does it seem to be implied, all footage was used in Alexander Revisited. There are extended scenes (Pella with the boy Alexander, some more sentences in the Indian revolt speech) to be found on the theatrical version, some fragments of scenes only a few seconds long throughout the original movie as well as a complete scene (old Ptolemy in Alexandria, indoors) not included in the third version. *
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 .(c'était un très mauvais make up !!!!)
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Historical consultant Robin Lane Fox and the costume design team originally planned for Angelina Jolie to be clothed exactly as a woman of Olympias's time and position would have appeared. This included a long dress and shawl that would have fully covered her entire body including her hair. Jolie, however, objected strongly to this and insisted her character be far less clothed to emphasize her sexual power.
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