LOTS OF DRINK, LITTLE CLOTHES FOR COLIN FARRELL.

Byline: - Glenn Whipp

Colin Farrell spent 94 days half-naked on three continents, coping with sandstorms, allegedly sleeping with co-stars (Angelina Jolie) and playing one of the most legendary figures in all of history.

Small wonder, then, that after taking off the armor and sheathing the swords, Farrell - and friends - would usually retreat to the bar after a day's shoot on Oliver Stone's take on ``Alexander'' (as in the Great).

``To get up every day, bear the brunt of the work ... all the lads will tell you, you stayed in that head space, even when you went to the bars after work,'' Farrell says by phone from the Virginia set of ``The New World,'' where he's playing John Smith in Terrence Malick's latest film.

``You couldn't go home and have an early night and shut off the madness after being Alexander. You had to go out. You had to keep it going. And Oliver was right there with us, dancing with the madness, encouraging it, in fact, and then never missing a beat the next morning.''

As challenging as it was for Farrell to play the great Macedonian conqueror (and to keep Stone from drinking him under the table), the actor gives his director the credit for keeping the $150 million production focused, ambitious and always interesting.

``Oliver talks about us being half-naked - he's the one who had to be naked on the set,'' Farrell says, speaking figuratively (thankfully). ``This movie was his life, his dream. He has spent more than 10 years thinking about it. He was bold and brave and driven by desire and, like Alexander, driven by a sense of his own destiny. I think we'll have our own little place in history. For good or bad, people will remember us.''

The folks about the hotel bar at the Le Meridien in Marrakesh certainly won't forget.

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``Alexander,'' opens Nov. 5