Olivia Wilde says a stunt gone wrong on the set of “Cowboys & Aliens” left her seconds from being trampled by a stampede of horses, until co-star Walton Goggins steered his own mount directly into the chaos to shield her.
Speaking on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast, Wilde described filming a full-speed chase scene roughly two months into the 2011 production, riding alongside Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford with roughly 40 horses thundering behind them.
An experienced equestrian accustomed to English-style riding, Wilde said the unfamiliar Western saddle and a six-foot ditch ahead spelled trouble. Her horse leapt the gap and threw her, knocking her into a stretch of ground hidden from the other riders by a dirt embankment and a haze of dust.
Lying on her back, Wilde recalled bracing for the worst as the herd closed in. Goggins, riding nearby, spotted her on the ground and made a split-second call: he wheeled his horse sideways into the path of the oncoming pack, absorbing the impact of other riders crashing around him so they would part around her body rather than run over it. Wilde said onlookers initially assumed Goggins had simply lost control of his horse, not realizing he had positioned himself as a shield.
“I owe him my life,” Wilde said, calling her former co-star “a real-life hero” and noting that Goggins had never mentioned the incident publicly before, including during his own past appearance on the podcast.
Directed by Jon Favreau and based on the graphic novel of the same name, “Cowboys & Aliens” paired a Western premise with science-fiction elements and featured a cast that also included Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano, Clancy Brown and Wyatt Russell. The film opened in July 2011 to generally favorable reviews but underwhelmed financially, grossing roughly $175 million worldwide against a production budget estimated near $160 million.
Wilde shared the story while promoting her latest directing project, “The Invite,” starring Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton and Seth Rogen. Goggins, now known for roles in “Justified,” “Fallout” and “The White Lotus,” has not yet publicly responded to Wilde’s account.
