Olivia Wilde has shared a harrowing account of how actor Walton Goggins saved her life during a dangerous incident on the set of the 2011 film "Cowboys & Aliens." Wilde recounted the near-death experience on the Armchair Expert podcast, describing how she was almost trampled by a herd of charging horses.
The incident occurred during a scene that involved Wilde, Daniel Craig, and Harrison Ford galloping across the desert with approximately 40 horses following behind. Wilde, who had been riding horses her entire life, explained that the Western-style riding and the cast's competitive nature had led to increased risk-taking.
She noted that she was not wearing a helmet because her character was from an earlier era. During the scene, a horse she was riding jumped over a large ditch, throwing her to the ground. She fell on the other side of a dirt lip, making her difficult for the following riders to see amidst the dust.
"I had the thought - it sounds so dramatic - but I thought, 'it'll be quick. It'll be like, pulverized applesauce. Out,'" Wilde recalled.
At that moment, Goggins, who had witnessed Wilde fall, acted swiftly. He turned his horse sideways in front of her, allowing the other horses to run into him while shielding Wilde's body on the ground. Despite appearing to observers as if he had gone insane, Goggins' quick thinking and skilled riding protected Wilde.
"He's a great rider, so he was able to handle that," Wilde said. "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."