Behind The Movie War Horse: An Interview With Steven Spielberg

I really wanted to meet and interview Steven Spielberg myself, but I know everyone else involved with War Horse did too. He’s an important man with a very busy schedule so I understand how he had to be selective with who interviewed him. So I watched this interview and will share some of the highlights with you, and suggest that you watch the interview as well. It’s almost an hour long but so interesting and informative to watch.

An interview with Steven Spielberg.

Thoughts and Highlights From The Interview With Steven Spielberg:

The horses were choses by trial and error. Abraham and Finder were the main two horses. Finder did most of the work but both Finder and Abraham bonded the best with all of the actors. The other horses used were specialty horses, a jumper or a runner.

Steven Spielberg mentioned that they were very fortunate with Joey. The horse at times seemed to understand what was going on in the scene and he added to it with his own expressions. It was unbelievable and amazing to see myself on the screen how this happened and to hear from Spielberg that it was the horse that made that magic on the screen.

I’m really impressed listening to Steven Spielberg on his opinion of the age of children and who can see this movie. He said it’s not for little kids but parents know their child best and what their children’s viewing habits are. I know for my kids, they get terrified in a theater when the lights get dark and the music and sound is intense so I couldn’t take my children to this. I wouldn’t take my children, they are 3 and 4. It’s a war movie, use your judgment.

Ok, I have to say the more I watch of this interview the more I love Steven Spielberg. He spoke about the war but not in “unspeakable terms”. There is so much of the movie where you don’t see what happened in the war but you KNOW what happened in War Horse.

In the interview he mentioned what the single most challenging technical sequence. The single most challenging technical sequence  for Steven Spielberg of the movie War Horse was when Joey went through No Man’s land. No horse was injured at all in the movie and it was so hard to make this scene. They did it at night and they were up all night and it was just quite a challenge. Here is a look at the No Man’s Land scene:

Steven also talks about how much he enjoys working with musical composer John Williams. For War Horse John Williams created three different theme piano sketches and he said he “was a goner, three handkerchiefs right there”. They also work together on where there should be and where there shouldn’t be music. I never thought about what goes behind the soundtrack before, but I have noticed how in very few movies how a moment of silence is one of the most powerful moments in the movie. I also found it interesting that he’s so flexible with the script. The script changes daily, even the actors might influence a change in the script, while filing the script went through about 25 changes. I’m just fascinated, I highly suggest you listen to this interview if you have any interest in War Horse or in Steven Spielberg and how he creates a masterpiece.

War Horse Arrives in Theaters Christmas Day.

Travel and Expenses, and photos were provided by DreamWorks.