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"War
Horse" is brought to the screen by DreamWorks Pictures,
with director Steven Spielberg at the helm. Steven Spielberg
and Kathleen Kennedy produced the film from a screenplay
by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis, based on the book by Michael
Morpurgo and the recent stage play by Nick Stafford, originally
produced by the National Theatre of Great Britain and
directed by Tom Morris and Marianna Elliot. |
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Producer
Kathleen Kennedy brought the project to Steven Spielberg
after seeing the play in London. Emotionally engaged by
the play, Kennedy thought it would make a good film and
that Spielberg would be the director to bring its moving
story to the screen. |
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The
international cast boasts actors from England, France
and Germany, most of whom play their nationality, lending
authenticity to the accents, although all the dialogue
is spoken in English. The cast features Emily Watson,
David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston,
Jeremy Irvine, Benedict Cumberbatch and Toby Kebbell,
as well as Celine Buckens, David Kross, Rainer Bock, Nicolas
Bro, Leonard Carow, Patrick Kennedy, Geoff Bell and Robert
Emms. |
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Jeremy
Irvine's great grandfather, who was a doctor in World
War I, actually bought his horse after the war, much like
Irvine's character does in the story, and Irvine's family
still has the receipt for that sale. Ironically the bill
of sale is for £28, the exact amount Albert has
to buy Joey back in the film. |
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Since
very little weaponry exists from World War I, all the
weapons, including tanks, had to be recreated or borrowed
from private sources. Antique firearms dealers, collectors
and museums loaned the production guns and swords. |
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85%
of the costumes were made for the film. Much attention
was given to them by Joanna Johnston and her staff to
make sure that the military uniforms were accurate and
that the rural costuming reflected the economic times
as well as the historical period. |
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World
War I was the last conflict to see horses used as implements
of war. After World War I, the conflicts were completely
mechanized. |
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The
horses used in the film came mostly from England and Spain,
though the horse that played Topthorn came all the way
from Hungary and one of the horses that played Joey came
from the U.S.A. |
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Most
of the horses were Andalusians but there were some warmbloods
too. Finder, the American horse, is a thoroughbred. |
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Fourteen
different horses played Joey, the hero horse, as the story
moves through different stages of the horse's life: foal,
yearling, adolescent and adult. |
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Finder,
who plays one of the Joeys, is 11 years old and belongs
to trainer Bobby Lovgren. Lovgren first came in contact
with Finder when he trained him on the set of "Seabiscuit",
which was produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall.
When filming ended on "Seabiscuit," Lovgren
bought Finder. Finder has made a full circle as "War
Horse" is also produced by Kathleen Kennedy, with
Frank Marshall executive-producing. |
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Makeup
artists were responsible for putting the markings on all
the different horses playing or standing in for Joey to
make sure they would all look perfectly like him. That
meant painting white socks (patterned after Roger, who
played one of the adult Joeys) and positioning a star-shaped
white hairpiece made of yak hair on the forehead of all
of them when needed. |
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In
the cavalry charge scene, 100 horses were used. Care had
to be taken not to tire the horses as they had to run
over long distances for several takes. Actors playing
cavalry soldiers in the charge had to learn to ride one-handed
because their swords needed to be fully extended going
into battle. |
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The
film was shot on location in Devon, England-primarily
on the moors of Dartmoor, in the village of Castle Combe
and on Stratfield Saye, home of the Duke of Wellington.
Special permission was granted to the production to film
on Stratfield Saye. The cavalry charge, the French countryside
with the windmill and the German camp were all created
and shot there. |
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For
one scene, where Joey is caught up in barbed wire, Special
Effects Supervisor Neil Corbould built a full-size animatronic
Joey. Puppeteers, buried beneath the ground, operated
the horse but for for the close-up of Joey's face, the
real horse, finder, was brought in to convey the trapped
horse's feelings. |
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Legendary
John Williams wrote the moving score for "War Horse."
Although he was drawn to the film's scope and period,
he had little connection to horses. So, to inspire his
imagination, Williams travelled to a California horse
farm and observed horses up close and personal. |
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American
Humane Association has a unique historical connection
to "War Horse." In 1916, the U.S. Secretary
of War wrote to American Humane Association requesting
aid for animals injured in World War I, which led the
forming of Red Star Animal Relief. Still in existence
today, Red Star™ Animal Emergency Services provides
care for animals that are victims of disasters and other
unforeseen events. |
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The
American Humane Association's Film and TV Unit logged
1,100 hours on "War Horse" sets in England and
California and safeguarded more than 100 horses. "War
Horse" earned American Humane Association's highest
certification rating, Monitored: Outstanding. "No
Animals Were Harmed." |
