Olivia Wilde says Walton Goggins saved her life after she was thrown off a horse during filming of Jon Favreau’s 2011 space Western Cowboys & Aliens. On Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Wilde described hitting her head and being hidden in a six-foot ditc
The moment came so fast Olivia Wilde still describes it like a countdown.
On a recent episode of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Wilde recalled an accident from the 2011 film Cowboys & Aliens—one she says could have ended in something far worse than a bruising fall. “Walt Goggins saved my life on that movie,” she told Shepard and Monica Padman.
Wilde explained that the incident happened while the two were filming Jon Favreau’s 2011 space Western. In the story set in 1873 Arizona, Wilde played a mysterious woman who joins the cowboys, while Goggins portrayed one of the outlaws drawn into the battle.
“I had a very bad horse accident and he saved me,” Wilde said.
She described the chase scene as they galloped across the desert—carried by confidence that came from experience. “And we were at that point, like two months in, and we got real cocky with it,” Wilde said. She spoke about riding English style and the intensity of the production: it was her. Daniel Craig. and Harrison Ford sprinting across the landscape. with “like 40 horses behind us.”.
They reached a stretch where Wilde could see danger ahead: “there was a large ditch, like a six-foot ditch.” She believed her horse would jump it, and she was performing on a “western saddle” without a helmet because she was “playing like an old-timey lady.”
Spoiler, Wilde said, is the movie’s twist: “Spoiler: I was actually an alien.”
But in real life, the jump didn’t go as planned. Wilde said the horse “jumps and bucks me off in the craziest way.”
She described the impact and how quickly the situation turned from motion to survival. Wilde said she hit her head and her back on impact. then landed out of view behind a “lip of dirt” that obscured her from the charging horses behind her. Dust filled the air. She said she could hear what was coming—“like thunder, like they were coming towards me.”.
In that instant. Wilde said she pictured the end in graphic terms. thinking it would be over so quickly there wouldn’t even be time to process fear. “And I had the thought — it sounds so dramatic — but I thought it’ll be quick,” she said. “It’ll be like pulverized applesauce. Out. And I was waiting for it to happen.”.
Then Goggins acted.
Wilde said that in a split second. Goggins saw the danger ahead of him and made a decision that changed what would happen next: he “thought to turn his horse sideways. right in front of me and let everyone bash into him.” She said Goggins is a “great rider. ” and that he was able to handle the moment.
Wilde said other people reacted without knowing why—“people split the two sides around us, thinking he had just like gone insane.” But in her view, his move wasn’t madness. “But he was protecting my body on the ground,” Wilde said. “And so I owe him my life.”
She ended her retelling with the blunt credit that has since stuck in the conversation. “Walt Goggins saved my life on that movie,” she repeated.
Shepherd responded with awe: “Wow. He’s a real-life hero.” Padman added, “He didn’t even bring that up when he was on the show.”
While Cowboys & Aliens brought together a high-profile cast—including the blockbuster pairing that came just three years after Favreau’s success with Iron Man—it didn’t translate into the kind of runaway hit many expected. The film earned $174.8 million worldwide against a reported $163 million production budget. It also holds a 44 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes.
For Wilde, the story now sits alongside a different chapter. She is currently promoting her third directorial feature film, The Invite, which stars Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton. Following its June 26 release, The Invite is described as performing much better with a 93 percent score.
Olivia Wilde Walton Goggins Armchair Expert Dax Shepard Monica Padman Cowboys & Aliens Jon Favreau Daniel Craig Harrison Ford The Invite Seth Rogen Penélope Cruz Edward Norton