Production Companies Warner Bros. Pictures, Intermedia Films, Pacifica Film, Egmond Film & Television, France 3 Cinéma, IMF Internationale Medien und Film GmbH & Co. 3. Produktions KG, Pathé Renn Productions
As in Morocco, the Thai government generously contributed real soldiers to portray ancient warriors. “It was a very interesting cross-cultural exercise,” muses Captain Dye. “I had just given up an entire Moroccan army, and immediately picked up an entire Thai army. They were great, and very, very quick to learn, despite the fact that we were teaching them tactics and weaponry that are 2,300 years old. We were able to quickly form them into phalanxes and teach them how to break apart and regroup, which was necessary when navigating the thick foliage of the forest, unlike the open desert battleground of Gaugamela.”
In the forest landscape, Dye was faced with some of the same challenges that may have confronted Alexander. “The problem that Alexander encountered in India, and in any restricted or jungle terrain, was that the phalanx was forced to break up, separate and lose its cohesiveness and unity in order to navigate around natural obstacles and trees. When Alexander used a phalanx on flat, maneuverable ground, as he did at Gaugamela and in several other battles, it had all the strength in the world. But when a terrain breaks up its unity, then the phalanx is in jeopardy, which is what we depict in the forest battle.”
In the film, the Indian forces strikingly employ battle elephants. Nowhere in the world are elephants better trained or more loved than in Thailand. (Elephants figure prominently in Thai folklore and religion, and efforts have been underway for years to stem the destruction of their forested habitats so that they may continue to thrive.) To handle the training of the elephants, production called upon the skills of Sompast Meepan, proprietor of the popular Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal. Meepan brought 30 pachyderms from Ayutthaya to the Phu Kae Central Botanical Garden.
The battle, as scripted, called for very specific actions that the elephants had to be capable of performing. Dale Dye and stunt coordinator Gary Powell spent two months working on developing the special skills, including acclimatizing the elephants to working with the horses, with Sompast and the elephants’ “mahouts,” trainers who have worked with their elephants since they were calves. “An elephant is going to do what an elephant is going to do,” notes Dye. “They aren’t interested in hitting marks. But we had an extraordinary bunch of elephants. They were intelligent and extremely well trained.” Stone adds, “The horses were more problematic, except oddly enough for Bucephalas, Alexander’s great black steed, who was very calm and in one of the film’s central shots, actually took on an elephant on its two hind legs, without any semblance of fear. That dramatic shot in the film is real, it’s not digital by any means. The horse, the stuntman, and Colin were all amazing.”
To assure the safety of the film’s animals, noted conservationist Richard Lair, co-founder of the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, which is one of the world’s most prominent elephant sanctuaries, and the Thai government’s chief veterinarian, Dr. Preecha Puangkham, were present at all times during the elephants’ training and filming.
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