War Horse and Those Amazing Equine Actors

Unlike some of Steven Spielberg‘s other historic films, like Schindler’s List, Amistad, and Saving Private Ryan, War Horse is a more romanticized tale. This makes sense considering it was inspired by a juvenile fiction story about a horse’s relationship with various people during the brutality of World War I. Since the other epic films were based on true events, comparing War Horse with those other flicks is like comparing apples and oranges.

Thoroughbred gelding Finders Key playing Joey with actor Jeremy Irvine as Albert. Photo by Dreamworks II Distribution Co.

I think because the book is a fictional story told from the viewpoint of the horse, Spielberg took the opportunity to inject some less-than-realistic elements to get the viewer emotionally involved in the film. For example, the horses are anthropomorphized in several parts, such as when Albert, the young protagonist, puts a harness collar over his head as a demonstration for Joey the horse. After seeing this, Joey immediately accepts the collar for the first time. In another part, Joey volunteers to take the place of his equine friend, a black gelding who isn’t up to the task of pulling extremely heavy artillery up a hill.

To experienced horse handlers, these moments sound a little hokey because horses’ brains just don’t work that way. Still, these anthropomorphized moments are brief enough that they don’t distract from the rest of the movie, and I suspect they’re used as a tool to draw in non-horse-loving viewers.

Albert introduces Joey to the harness collar. Photo by Dreamworks II Distribution Co.

There are other fanciful moments, and as with so many films these days, our hero, Joey, seems to have super-equine abilities to survive horrific disasters with few injuries. But because Joey is expressive and the human characters are likable, you can’t help but be affected by their relationships.

Depending on your personality, War Horse will leave you tearful at various scenes. I saw the movie with three friends and we were all touched at different times. One horse-loving friend began crying at the very beginning when Joey was born while another one held back the tears until close to the end of the movie when Joey is given back to his devoted friend, Albert. The waterworks started for me during the scene when Joey is rescued in No Man’s Land — it was emotionally touching to see a horse bring together men from warring nations in the midst of World War I.

The painting of Joey by Alexandra Bannister. Learn more about its story below.
Photo by Apex

The equine star of War Horse, a California-bred Thoroughbred gelding named Finders Key, is a gifted actor who conveyed believable emotions at the right moments. The horse master on the film, Bobby Lovgren, owns “Finder” and praises the horse’s ability to take direction and look animated during the intense scenes.

While 14 horses were used to play Joey’s role in the movie, Finder was the star that all the other equine actors had to emulate. His stunt doubles were chosen based on how closely they resembled Finder. With his handsome good looks and acting chops, Finder has already moved on to other TV and movie projects we can look forward to seeing.

During production of the movie War Horse, Morpurgo met artist Alexandra Bannister who’d done sketches of Joey that appeared in the film. The author had an idea to satisfy the tourists and placate irritated locals — have Ali Bannister also paint an oil portrait of Joey that fits the description in the book and hang it in the town hall. See the author reveal the new painting and the story below.

Bannister, the artist who created the sketches and painting, had a full work schedule during the filming of War Horse. In addition to the artwork, she was the main equine makeup artist who led a team of assistants on everything from applying mud and dirt to creating realistic open wounds and scars on the horses.