Oliver Stone has a reputation for dabbling in history; with Salvador, Platoon, JFK, and Nixon, all helping cement the director's reputation. Known for his passion, meticulous research and unique brand of cinematic madness, Stone, with Alexander, has reached further back in history than ever before to create a three-hour film about a man so legendary, his story has been said to bear more than a passing resemblance to Jesus Christ's, whom he preceded in history.

It's not the first time you attempted to the story of Alexander...

Yes, but I couldn't have done this story when I wanted to do it 15 years ago [with Val Kilmer]. I then wrote a script in 1996 on the Greek Island of Mykonos. It was Tom Cruise who wanted to play Alexander at the time, but I didn't like the script and then kind of gave up.

So the story has been a dream of yours?

It's a special dream, although I claim no special relationship. Millions of people worldwide have admired him, and as a dramatist it's a tremendous challenge, because it's never been done, although it's been available.

Did the period prove hard to research and then replicate?

We learned from history, but we don't know everything. It's become an interesting lab experiment. We had Robin Lane Fox from Oxford University down on the set who has written extensively about Alexander. We talked about cavalry charges and diamond and wedge-shaped formations and all the strategy of the age, but when you actually do it, you find out things you don't expect, and that's what's happened a lot. So we've had to change a lot of what history says they did; maybe we just didn't figure it out right.

How much of the ancient mythology did you want in the film?

You have to keep in mind that Alexander was very rational, but at the same time he was very superstitious. He apparently sacrificed faithfully to the gods every morning of his life, and he believed in omens and oracles. Sometimes he didn't listen to them, but he certainly was superstitious. I wanted a lot of it in the film. We didn't want to over do it, as the modern audience isn't that way, but you have to understand that the Greeks were superstitious. They were extremely oriented to nature, to the outdoors, so they would take signs from the moon, birds and things like that.

How was it working with Colin Farrell? Where you ever wary of his reputation?

Colin was inspired. I don't know the stories about his private life, but he has fun, he likes to play hard, but he works extremely hard - he doesn't even go off for lunch, he doesn't even change out of costume. He is also the best athletic actor I've come across.

Alexander is released in UK cinemas on Friday 7th January 2005.