Olivia Wilde Reveals the Co-Star Who Saved Her from Being Trampled by Horses on Movie Set

Olivia Wilde is opening up about a scary horse scene she shot years ago with a star-studded cast.

While chatting with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman on the “Armchair Expert” podcast, Olivia looked back at filming the 2011 film “Cowboys & Aliens” with Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano and Walton Goggins.

Olivia revealed, “Walt Goggins saved my life on that movie. I had a very bad horse accident, and he saved me.”

She explained, “I’ve ridden horses my whole life. I have a lot of confidence with riding a certain style, like English-style, but this was western, different. And we were at that point, like two months in, and we’d gotten real cocky with it. And we were pretty competitive.”

Wilde said, “It was me and Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford galloping, like, full, full sprint across the desert with, like, 40 horses behind us and… we got to a part where I could see ahead of us that there was a large ditch, like, a six-foot ditch, and I was like, ‘This horse is going to jump that ditch.’ And I'm on this western saddle, no helmet… and so sure enough, this horse jumps and bucks me off in the craziest way.”

She recalled, “I fell off. I hit my head and my back. And I was laying, but unfortunately, I was on the other side of this kind of like lip of dirt, meaning that the 40 horses behind me couldn't see me. And there was also a lot of dust.”

Olivia knew she was in danger, saying, “I remember having my ear to the ground and I could hear it and it sounded like thunder, like they were coming towards me and I had — the thought sounds so dramatic — but I thought, ‘It'll be quick. It'll be like pulverized applesauce. Out.’ And I was waiting for it to happen.”

Walt had seen what happened and acted quickly.

She said, “In a split-second, [he] thought to turn his horse sideways right in front of me and let everyone kind of bash into him. And he’s a great rider, so he was able to handle that. And people split the two sides around us thinking he had just gone insane, but he was protecting my body on the ground.”

Wilde gushed, “So, I owe him my life. It’s crazy. He’s a real-life hero."