Hollywood Hoofbeats

Hollywood Hoofbeats by Petrine Day Mitchum

If you haven’t seen War Horse and you don’t like spoilers, you may want to read something else on ilovehorses.net. I’ve tried not to reveal too much about the climactic parts of the movie (of which there are many) while still providing some teasers.

Hollywood Hoofbeats
After reading Hollywood Hoofbeats, I admit it’s changed how I watch horses in movies. I’ve learned that incredibly life-like mechanical horses are used for those scenes that no horse would tolerate or survive, and CGI can produce unbelievably realistic and heart-stopping moments. Watching War Horse, I knew exactly what to look for to spot those special effects. Even so, they were so convincing that I was still shocked and amazed.

Hightower with his owner and trainer, Rex Peterson. Photo by Ken Regan/Camera Five

Hollywood Hoofbeats tells amazing stories of professional stunt horses who work just as hard as their human counterparts. Some horses are such accomplished actors that they have several films to their credit. One such horse, a Quarter Horse named Hightower, was so well-loved by his Runaway Bride co-star Julia Roberts that the horse was Fed Ex’d across the country to appear in another scene at the actress’ request.

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

Prior to Runaway Bride Hightower also played Pilgrim in The Horse Whisperer. In this challenging role, he played a horse who survived a devastating accident that left him severely injured and completely uncontrollable. Robert Redford portrayed a horse-whispering trainer who gentles the horse. Hightower had the amazing ability to play a vicious animal on screen yet change into a sweet-tempered horse the moment the director said “cut.”

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

Hightower also played Black Beauty’s love interest, Ginger, in the 1994 version of Black Beauty. Interestingly, the horse who played Black Beauty, a Quarter Horse stallion named Docs Keepin Time, also starred in The Horse Whisperer as the ill-fated Gulliver who was killed in the horrible accident.

In the accident scene, a realistic mechanical horse was used to portray Gulliver immediately after he was hit by an 18-wheeler. The on-location American Humane Association representative actually believed the mechanical horse was real until he was shown otherwise.


The Remarkable
Painting and Sketches
In the book War Horse, author Michael Morpurgo began the story by describing “a small dusty painting” of Joey the horse that hung in a real location, the Iddesleigh town hall in Devon, England. The trouble was, the painting never actually existed, but visitors to Iddesleigh didn’t know that and repeatedly asked the locals where it was.

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.

Hightower died at the age of 26 after a long, successful career in the movies. Hollywood horse trainer Rex Peterson plans to write a memoir about Hightower.

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.

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.

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

I’m a tad sensitive about watching violence in movies, but Spielberg handled it differently from Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. Much of the violence in War Horse is implied, hidden from our view, but you know what’s happened. There are plenty of grenade explosions, bodies being thrown around, and horses being injured or killed, but there’s little blood. The battle scenes are still shocking but probably won’t leave viewers emotionally scarred.

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.

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

Finder’s talents are pretty amazing — at the age of three he was one of a few horses who played Seabiscuit in the biopic, and according to the London Daily Mail, Finder even portrayed the mare giving birth to Joey at the beginning of War Horse.

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.

Watch the War Horse trailer below.