Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Filmmaker and actor Olivia Wilde has recounted the moment she almost lost her life during production of the 2011 western flick Cowboys & Aliens, crediting a fellow Hollywood actor for “saving” her.
Appearing on the Armchair Expert Podcast with Dax Sheppard, Wilde recalled falling off her horse and being seconds from death if not for the quick-thinking of an action film star.
“Walton Goggins saved my life on that movie,” she said.
“I had a very bad horse accident, and he saved me. It was me and Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford galloping like full, full, full sprint across the desert with like 40 horses behind us.”
Failing to wear a helmet as it did not gel with her “old-timey” character, Wilde said she became fearful of tumbling over upon spotting a six-foot ditch and realising her horse would need to clear it.
“Sure enough, this horse jumps and bucks me off in the craziest way, and I fell off, I hit my head and my back and was laying (on the ground), but unfortunately, I was on the other side of this kind of lip of dirt, so meaning that the 40 horses behind me couldn’t see me,” she continued.
The Don’t Worry Darling director said there was dust in the air that had blanketed the view of her fast-approaching cast members, imagining she would soon be “pulverised”.
However, the expert riding skills and alertness of Goggins kicked into gear.
“Walt Goggins had seen it 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 recalled.
“He’s a great rider so he was able to handle that, and people split the two sides around us, thinking he had just like gone insane, but he was protecting my body on the ground. And so I owe him my life.”
Action and sci-fi fans would be familiar with Goggins’ work in films such as The Hateful Eight, TV series Justified and Fallout, and earlier work in The Shield.
But the industry veteran attracted an entirely new audience last year upon after playing lovable grump Rick Hatchett in season three of The White Lotus.
Reacting to Wilde’s recollection of Goggins’ heroics, fans only grew fonder of the star in the podcast’s comments section.
“Just another reason to love Walton Goggins!” one person said.
“One national treasure saving another national treasure,” another added.
One fan’s hyperbole extended to labelling Goggins “literally the nicest guy in the world”.
