Walton Goggins Saved Olivia Wilde From a Horse Accident on ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ Set
Olivia Wilde recently recounted a harrowing experience from the set of ‘Cowboys & Aliens’, revealing how Walton Goggins came to her rescue during a perilous horse accident.
During her appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast, Wilde shared the frightening details of the incident that occurred while filming Jon Favreau’s 2011 Western sci-fi action film, which featured stars like Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Goggins, Sam Rockwell, and Paul Dano.
Wilde explained that the cast was shooting a significant action scene involving a large herd of horses racing through the desert. The actors had to ride at full speed, with dozens of horses trailing closely behind them.
“Walt Goggins saved my life on that movie,” Wilde stated on the podcast. “He did. I had a very bad horse accident, and he saved me.”
She described the scene as a massive action sequence where she was riding alongside Craig and Ford, leading a group of approximately 40 horses. “It was me and Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford galloping, like full sprint across the desert with 40 horses behind us. And it was like we were leading the charge to fight the aliens or whatever,” she recalled.
During one take, things took a turn when Wilde’s horse leaped over a large ditch, causing her to lose control and fall off. “So sure enough, this horse jumps and bucks me off in the craziest way,” Wilde explained. “I fell off. I hit my head and my back, and I was laying [on the ground] but, unfortunately, I was on the other side of this kind of lip of dirt, meaning that all horses behind couldn’t see me.”
The situation grew even more perilous as dust kicked up by the galloping horses obscured visibility for the crew. Wilde recounted hearing the horses approaching while she lay on the ground.
“I remember having my ear to the ground and I could hear it and it sounded like thunder, like they were coming towards me,” she said. “And I had the thought — it sounds so dramatic — but I thought, it’ll be quick. It’ll be like, pulverized applesauce. Out.”
Wilde noted that Goggins quickly recognized the danger she was in. Instead of continuing with the scene, he made a split-second decision to position his horse directly in front of her to shield her from the oncoming riders and horses.
“Walt Goggins had seen [me] ahead of him and in a split second thought to turn his horse sideways right in front of me and let everyone kind of bash into him,” Wilde elaborated.
She emphasized that Goggins’ exceptional riding skills allowed him to manage the situation and avert a potentially disastrous accident.
“People split the two sides around us thinking he had just gone insane, but he was protecting my body on the ground. And so I owe him my life. It’s crazy. He’s a real-life hero,” Wilde remarked.
‘Cowboys & Aliens’, directed by Jon Favreau and based on the graphic novel of the same name, was released in 2011. The film combined Western and science-fiction elements but faced financial challenges, grossing around $175 million worldwide against a reported production budget of about $160 million.
Although the film did not achieve major box office success, Wilde’s account highlights a memorable moment that unfolded off-camera when Goggins intervened to protect his co-star during a genuinely dangerous situation.
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