Do not underestimate Oliver Stone's drive to make this movie. Alexander is the man of Stone's dreams — a conquerer, a uniter, a great leader with a passion for Asia (and Asian women), and the son of an iron-willed mother. All of Stone's great themes about leadership and manhood reverberate through the Macedonian king's spectacular story — there's even a quick flash of Alexander's face in The Doors — and he had a lust to tell it.

Still, it took 15 years for Alexander to develop. As Stone set about assembling a vast filmography that ranges from the smart (JFK) to the startling (Natural Born Killers) to the simply bizarre (his Castro-sympathetic Looking for Fidel), scripts were written and discarded, sets designed and abandoned.

Finally in 2000, with Intermedia's Moritz Borman on board to secure financing, Stone went off to write a script. What he ended up with was a 142-page behemoth showcasing two sprawling battle scenes, a re-creation of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, a cast of thousands, and an honest, fairly explicit treatment of Alexander's famous bisexuality. The movie started with Alexander's childhood and quickly flashed forward to his conquest of Persia — covering his rule over Asia, his marriage to a Bactrian princess, the near revolt of his men, and ultimately his death in Babylon. To the surprise of everyone — including, in his honest moments, Stone — Borman signed off. And then the director took a meeting with Colin Farrell.

''He came in looking like a Dublin street thug,'' remembers the director, laughing. ''He broke two or three wineglasses during dinner just making his points and yelling. I walked away with a headache. I was like, 'I quite enjoyed his company, but my God! I could never make a movie with him!'''

You Might Also Like

• DVD Review Alexander (Aug 02, 2005) | Ty Burr
• Movie Review (Nov 24, 2004)
• Movie Review (Nov 24, 2004)
• Movie Review (Nov 24, 2004)
• All About Alexander
• DVD Commentary EW's Dalton Ross names 2005's 5 worst DVDs (Aug 02, 2005) | Dalton Ross