From page, to stage, to screen

I was first introduced to War Horse when I watched the astonishing stage adaptation in London a couple of years ago, a production that providentially was also seen by Kathleen Kennedy, director Steven Spielberg’s long-time producer.

It was always very important that the film be a celebration of a friendship that prevails against all odds

War Horse’s inspiring story of human-animal bonding that sees young farm boy Albert and his beloved horse Joey separated during the Great War was first told in prolific author Michael Morpurgo’s popular young adult novel which was published in 1982. Morpurgo always wanted to write a tale set against the background of World War I, a conflict that changed the world forever.

The author wanted to tackle the story in an original way and found his inspiration when he met an old veteran, who talked with passion not about his comrades in arms but about the incredibly heroic horses with whom he served.

“Here I was, listening to this old man who had tears in his eyes talking about a relationship he had with a horse on the Western front decades ago,” says the author in the film’s production notes. “I learned that these horses were doing so much more than simply carrying soldiers or gun carriages. They deeply mattered to people”

Having found his inspiration, Morpurgo embarked on detailed research into the subject and learned that over a million horses went into battle with the British during that war and only 62,000 returned. Horses were vital to forces on all sides of the conflict and like their human companions they committed acts of extreme bravery and loyalty, so much so that the author felt the need for their story to be told.

On publication, the book was an instant hit and was a runner-up for the prestigious Whitbread Award. Interest in the book was rekindled dramatically with the 2007 stage production at London’s National Theatre.

Told by a cast made of actors and the astonishing life-size puppets from the Handspring Puppet Company, the production was embraced by audiences and critics alike, winning numerous awards, as it did when it transferred to Broadway.

Kennedy thought that Spielberg would be the perfect candidate to bring the story to the big screen. However, despite his success in telling war stories on both the big and small screens, the director wasn’t interested in making a war film. “What Steven loved about War Horse,” divulges Kennedy, “was the relationship between the boy and this horse and their journey.”

Warming to the subject, she elaborates that “it was always very important that the film be a celebration of a friendship that prevails against all odds. That is what is so powerful – that yearning for reunion that permeates the story. I knew Steven would make certain to explore the idea and not let the audience off easy. That what he does so well. The emotions are not sentimental; they are earned.”

Among the director’s many abilities is his flair for telling a story; the common thread that bound him to Morpurgo. The author was delighted when the director took on the project, noting that Spielberg’s vision for the big-screen incarnation of his story was as unique as was the theatre version for the stage.

Also on board for the film version was producer Revel Guest who saw her dream of making a film of War Horse ever since its theatrical debut come true.

The next step for the film-makers was to find suitable candidates to adapt the novel into a screenplay. Two stalwarts of British TV and cinema writing were approached: Lee Hall, who wrote the award-winning Billy Elliot, and Richard Curtis, known for Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and, of course, TV favourite Blackadder.

The challenge for the writers was twofold. How to make Joey – a character with no voice – the central protagonist of the story, and how to tell the story without being bogged down in chaos of the war providing the background to the story.

In fact, no matter what they tweaked in the plot, Joey always remained at the heart of the story. “The challenge was achieving a balance – not diminishing the horror of the war but not eclipsing what is a very moving story about people bound together by a horse,” says Curtis.

What about the director himself? “I thought the story was absolutely fascinating, and I was transported. In my mind it was a very honest story. I saw it as a movie for families – the journey of a boy and a horse who were once so close and whose destinies drive them apart. I hope this story will bring people together through this shared experience; its heart can be felt in every country.”