War Horse - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[bessie]

Steven Spielberg was inspired to do a movie about horses by his daughter Destry, who was an avid rider growing up. He promised her he would make a movie about horses one day.

[russell]

The film is based on both a children's novel of the same name set during World War I, by Michael Morpurgo, first published in the United Kingdom in 1982, and the 2007 stage adaptation, also of the same name.

[kyle]

Author Michael Morpurgo's original 1982 book "War Horse" evolved from chance meetings with three surviving WWI soldiers in Iddesleigh, Devon, Morpurgo's English hometown. After a number of meetings with the former members of the Devon yeomanry, and consultations with the Imperial War Museums (IWM), Morpurgo was able to write a story based on the experiences of the veterans and their poignant accounts of, not just human slaughter on the battlefield, but also the wholesale carnage and starvation of horses.

[elmer]

Michael Morpurgo: The author of the source book is seen standing next to David Thewlis during the auction scene at the beginning of the movie. Morpurgo's wife Clare is also seen in the film.

[sylvia]

The swords used in the cavalry charge against the Germans (Pattern 1908 for troopers and 1912 for officers) were the last swords issued to the cavalry of the British army.

[harry]

Patrick Kennedy and Benedict Cumberbatch also appeared in "Atonement".

[brent]

This film, directed by Steven Spielberg, was released in the same year as another of his movie, The Adventures of Tintin (2011) and both were Oscar nominated. However, the film represents another double Spielberg losing year at the Oscars. This movie received six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture whilst The Adventures of Tintin (2011) got one nomination. Both films failed to win an Oscar. In 2006, Spielberg also had two movies Oscar nominated, Munich (2005) and War of the Worlds (2005). Both those two films also failed to win an Oscar that year. Spielberg had a double Oscar winning year in 1994 with Schindler's List (1993) (won seven Oscars) and Jurassic Park (1993) (won three Oscars).

[tammy]

Fourteen horses played Joey during the movie. The main acting horse in the film, Finder's Key, also portrayed Seabiscuit (2003) in the eponymous movie about the famous racehorse.

[melinda]

Director Steven Spielberg stated that the only digital effects used in the movie were three shots that lasted three seconds, and it was done to ensure the safety of the horse involved. Spielberg was quoted as saying, "That's the thing I'm most proud of. Everything you see on screen really happened."

[clayton]

Specially designed mud was used to make the battle scenes look authentically filthy.

[elmer]

Prior to principal photography, a number of actors did about two months of intensive horse training.

[miriam]

Finder's two famous roles, Seabiscuit and Joey, were very similar. Both were remarkable mainly in their bravery and determination to overcome insurmountable odds they never should have been able to, considering what kind of horse they were.

[kristina]

First horse movie to be nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award Oscar in eight years. Seabiscuit (2003) was the last.

[ella]

The tank created for the movie is now an exhibit in a bona fide tank museum in Dorset, England, among real tanks including those from World War I.

[francisco]

Janusz Kaminski has stated that he used John Fords The Searchers (1956) as a template for his exterior filming, paying particular attention to Ford's panoramic sky, landscape and terrain.