82 SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
H
O
R
S
E
S
The
Making
of War
Horse
By Edna Wilson
War Horse’s journey from book to theatre to movie has
taken almost 30 years. Central to the story, of course
are horses: the original Joey, life-size puppets in the
play, 250 horses in the movie – 14 of which are Joey
and Jaguar Hope, a retired Thoroughbred racehorse.
In 2005 director Tom Morris at the National Theatre
was looking for a way to bring Handspring Puppet
Company to the theatre. Tom Morris’ mother had read
War Horse, knew he was looking for an animal story
and gave him a copy of the book to read. War Horse
is one of over 120 children’s stories written by Britain’s
former Children’s Laureate, Michael Murpongo.
Published in 1982, War Horse was translated into three
or four languages and a runner-up in the Whitbread
Book Awards, but didn’t succeed in America. The book
tells the story of Joey, a young chestnut farm horse in
Devon, who gets taken from his owner and ends up in
the battlefields of the First World War.
On the Stage
The stage adaptation of War Horse was produced
at the National Theatre in autumn 2007. Although the
story line is compelling, many critics consider the life-
size bamboo horse puppets the most intriguing part of
the production. “Much of the narrative and emotional
burden is carried by a language that is international,”
said Sir Nicholas Hytner, the play’s artistic director.
“The puppetry exists independent of the spoken word,
independent of text. It works almost in the way that
dance works.”
After two sell-out runs at the National Theatre, War
Horse transferred to the West End where it’s playing through
October 2012. Kathleen Kennedy, a Hollywood producer, saw
War Horse at the National Theatre and suggested Spielberg
see the production. He travelled to London and bought the
film rights after falling in love with the play. Six months later
the cast for the movie was announced.
And the Movies
While Spielberg was looking for actors, Gary Tomkins
one of the art directors, was searching for an equine artist.
Alexandra Bannister met Tomkins over a bacon sandwich
at her neighbors’ house where she was trying out a horse
for their friends’ son. They chatted, she showed him some
sketches and Gary said it was a shame they hadn’t met a few
weeks ago, but asked her to send him some examples just in
case.
“The next day, however, I got a phone call from Gary saying
that Rick Carter, production designer for War Horse, had
seen my website and wanted me to come in for a meeting,”
Bannister said. “One drawing from my website that stood out
to Rick Carter for its confidence and strength was a portrait of
retired American racehorse ‘Jaguar Hope’, a son of Turkoman,
grandson of the late, great Alydar,” she explained. Bannister
found photos of Jaguar Hope on Flickr.com a few years before
and was friends with his owner, Wendy Uzelac, when Jag had
a horrible accident. He was found in his paddock with a badly
broken leg and had to be put to sleep.
“Months later Wendy commissioned me from the States
to do a portrait of her beloved horse that I had so admired,”
Bannister continued. “When Rick Carter picked Jag’s portrait
from the bunch as one that showed a ‘Joey-like’ zeal I was
thrilled to produce some sketches from it for the film. Sample
sketches were sent to Spielberg in LA along with those of
Jaguar Hope enjoys an energetic romp
Photo by Wendy Wooley