Stampede to Screen
By Paula Parisi August 1, 2010
Puppets for "War Horse" were created by South African company Handspring.
They’re majestic, sexy and ready for their close-ups. We’re talking horses.
Continuing a trend of equine-themed films galloping into the multiplex, a biopic about 2009’s longshot Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and a tear-jerking tale of cavalry service during World War I are set to join modern classics The Black Stallion and Seabiscuit.
Steven Spielberg could have had his pick of projects for his next directorial outing. He chose War Horse, a young readers’ novel by Michael Morpurgo that spins a haunting tale of WW I combat through the eyes of Joey, a farm horse sent off to wage battle in France. The selection was a personal one, as the women in the Spielberg family are avid riders, from wife Kate Capshaw, who favors dressage, down to the daughter Destry, who competes in the hunters.
The film, which is due for release from Disney in August 2011, will star British stage and television actor Jeremy Irvine as the young horseman Albert. Bereft when his father sells Joey off as a cavalry mount, Albert spends much of the movie struggling to reunite with his companion. Emily Watson will play Albert’s mother. David Thewlis also stars.
Shooting will take place in the U.K., where Morpurgo’s book was adapted for a hugely successful stage play, running since October 2007. Upon acquiring film rights to the book, Spielberg said in a press release: “Its heart and message provide a story that can be felt in every country.”
Morpurgo has said that the genesis of his interest in telling the tale sprang from the fact that on the British side alone, more than a million horses died in WW I, “and most of them that survived were sold off after the war was over, to butchers in France.”
Writing about the U.K. stage production, Michael Billington of the London-based Guardian newspaper wrote: “The joy of the evening lies in the skilled recreation of equine life and in its unshaken belief that mankind is ennobled by its love of the horse.” The play’s equine performers are beautifully rendered, life-size sculptures created by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company.
"War Horse" was published as a young readers novel by Scholastic.
Each is crafted of cane and silk on an aluminum frame operated by three people—two standing within the frame and one alongside to control the head and ears. Guided by their respective trios, Joey and his platoonmate Topthorn give amazingly nuanced performances—from full-on gallops to snorts and ear pivots—and even accepting riders. Meanwhile, the black-clad puppeteers disappear into the background as viewers are captivated by the balletic magic of the “horses.”
YouTube features numerous clips of the puppets in action for those who might want to check out the play before its scheduled U.S. debut at New York’s Lincoln Center Theater in March 2011.
A Bird in Hand?
In an earlier stage of development is a film about longshot 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird. Trailing the field on a muddy track for the early part of the race, the bay gelding came from behind to win by nearly seven lengths—the greatest margin of victory since 1946. Running at 50–1 odds, he returned $103.20 for a $2 bet. The victory was all the more amazing in that his trainer, Chip Woolley, was not your typical Thoroughbred Svengali. He is from New Mexico, where he was known largely as a trainer of Quarter Horses. The ownership team behind Mine That Bird is currently cobbling together a movie deal, and promise details shortly. What is known is that the story will focus on the dark horse nature of both Bird and Woolley’s success.
An interesting bit of movie lore—Mine That Bird’s co-owner, New Mexico veterinarian Dr. Leonard Blach, has already appeared in one racing movie. He played an equine vet in the 1978 Walter Matthau film Casey’s Shadow, about a horse whose owners dream of turning him into a champion. A case of life imitating art?
A distant cousin of Mine That Bird (they both spring from Northern Dancer bloodlines), the 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat, hits the big screen on Oct. 8 in the eponymous Disney film about the big red horse that captured America’s hearts. Diane Lane stars as Penny Chenery, who took over her father’s Virginia Thoroughbred breeding operation, teaming with trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich) to take on the big boys and create a stable of champions that also included Riva Ridge (winner of the 1972 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes).
To see a trailer of the London production of War Horse, click here. For information about tickets to the see the play in New York, go to lct.org.
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