Actress Jennifer Connelly is in no rush to work with horses again after her “scary” experience on new movie Only The Brave.
The A Beautiful Mind star had to undergo special training to get up close to the mammals as she portrayed real-life ranch owner Amanda Marsh, one of the widows of the 19 elite firefighters who were killed battling a wildfire in Arizona in 2013.
“I had very little experience with horses,” Jennifer told Today, “and I had never done anything like that when you can really feel their power and strength when you try and get a horse… to lay down in a very confined space.
“I really enjoyed the training, and it was important because it’s such a big part of who Amanda is, her love for horses.”
However, when it came time to shoot, her animal co-star wouldn’t always co-operate, making for a rough ride.
She explained, “It was scary at first, it sort of got mellow in the middle (of filming), and then it got scary again… when I had this sort of, emergency dismount… He bolted and I (had to jump off).”
Despite the horse incident, Jennifer enjoyed working on Only the Brave, because it allowed her to really get to know Amanda’s perspective on such an emotional story.
“It was wonderful (getting to know her),” she said. “I think it would have felt inappropriate to tell her story without her support and without her collaboration.”
And the actress even got to wear Amanda’s actual cowboy boots on film: “I got to literally walk a mile in my character’s shoes, which was really wonderful,” Jennifer smiled, “but her contribution (to the film) just meant the world to me, and the stories that she shared and her honesty.”
Josh Brolin plays Amanda’s husband Eric Marsh, the superintendent of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew. Miles Teller, Taylor Kitsch, and Jeff Bridges also co-star in the movie, which hits theaters on Friday (20Oct17).
