CONTEST OVER! CONGRATS TO

Denise Taylor-Dennis #482!!

I first have to say, that I was not really interested in watching this movies, at all. But, I was curious, because of all of the rave reviews on it. So, when I was asked if I wanted to review this movie, I said I would.

It arrived last week and I popped it into the DVD player. I watched the whole thing and LOVED it. Not only was the countryside absolutely gorgeous in this movie but the movie itself was so good.

Small Frame:

About The Movie:

This is from legendary director Steven Spielberg and is about the epic adventure a tale of incredible loyalty, hope, and tenacity. Based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway play, and set against the sweeping canvas of World War I, this deeply heartfelt story begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and his young trainer Albert. When they’re forced apart by war, we follow Joey’s extraordinary journey as he changes and inspires the lives of everyone he meets. Filled with spectacularly rich visuals — and complete with never-before-seen bonus features — War Horse is a “Genuine movie masterpiece,” (Rex Reed, The New York Observer) and one of the most powerful and moving stories of friendship ever told.

So, as you can see, above, this movie is just so good. It is powerful and inspiring. The friendship of the horse, Joey and Albert is so sweet!

Some War Horse Facts:

Interview with Jeremy Irvine:

Q: War Horse is your first film. That’s an incredible way to start…
A: I’m just proud to be a part of it. Just to have lines in a movie, any movie, is
ridiculous and to be in a Steven Spielberg movie is beyond my wildest dreams. It’s
something I never even contemplated. Even when I was auditioning I never dreamed
I would get the role, as far as I was concerned it was just good audition experience.
Q: How long did that go on for?
A: I think it was about two months.
Q: And you kept getting closer and closer…
A: Well, I didn’t know that. At no point did I allow myself to think that I was getting
close to landing the part, I just thought it was great experience – meeting with one ofthe biggest casting directors in the UK and the chance to meet Steven Spielberg
and that was all I ever thought about.
Q: When and where was that first meeting with Steven?
A: Very late in the process, it was just before I was offered the job. We had tea in
Claridges Hotel in London. I got a phone call one night saying ‘can you meet Steven
Spielberg for tea tomorrow morning?’ And as you can imagine I didn’t sleep much
that night.
Q: What was that first meeting like? Were you nervous?
A: Oh yes, but within five minutes of being in a room with Steven he puts you
completely at ease. It’s one of his greatest skills as a director because he makes
the actors feel so comfortable. It would have been very easy for me to get very
overwhelmed and he was very careful to make me feel as comfortable as possible
and when you’re feeling comfortable you do your best work.
Q: Did you find out that you had the role at that meeting with Steven?
A: I never ever even thought about it. I would phone my agent after each audition and
say ‘that was a great experience…’ but we never once said ‘we might be getting
close here..’ It just wasn’t on the cards. You know, I wasn’t even getting called back
for commercials so why would I get a Steven Spielberg movie? It was really bizarre.

Q: And who did you call first to share the news with?
A: Well, that’s the thing, I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone. The casting director said to
my agent ‘we’d like Jeremy to keep it to himself..’ and when you are offered a
chance like this it’s amazing how easy that is. So I didn’t tell my parents for a good
three weeks. In fact, I didn’t tell anyone.Q: But you must have been desperate to share the news?

Q: Did you know how to ride before the film?
A: No, I’d never ridden before. I never had anything to do with horses before so I had to learn quite quickly. I was a little bit skeptical before when people talked about howthey had these close relationships with animals because I wasn’t a huge animalperson before but within a week I was besotted with the horses like everyone else.They are incredibly human with their emotions. They are huge, powerful animals and they are not going to do anything that they don’t want to do so you have to have a relationship with them. You can’t fake relationships with horses. And when you are on screen those relationships have to be real – there’s nowhere to hide in that close up. So I spent two months building relationships with the 14 horses that played Joey and I made sure that every relationship was real and the hours spent training with them, getting to know them, paid off and, by the end of it, hopefully what you see on the screen are real, genuine relationships with those horses. The thing is, to state the obvious, a horse doesn’t know that it’s acting so it’s never going to be fake, it’s always going to be real. And as an actor that’s great to work with but you can’t come into a scene with set ideas of how the scene is going to go because the horse is probably going to have other ideas and you have to work with that. There is no point trying to go against it, you have to work with the horse and be fluid and move with the animal.

Q: But how would you sum up the film?
A: I think it’s a very powerful anti-war film for people for all ages. I think it’s so
impressive that he has made this anti-war film and that children can understand itsmessage. There is no blood and guts to get distracted by but when you see the cavalry charge and the machine guns start firing and suddenly most of the horses don’t have riders on their backs anymore and the camera pans up and you see a whole field of dead horses. That’s so powerful because it leaves something to the audience’s imagination. I think that Steven brings out those themes in a way that is so clever. Iremember going to the premier in New York and the film was ending and there were all these tough New York guys all around me and they were all welling up with tears in their eyes. Everyone knows that this is a film, we’re working from a script, it’s actors and it’s not real and there’s a cameraman and a sound guy and yet it can still move people to tears and I think that says everything. That’s one of the reasons I got into acting and that’s the power that an amazing director like Steven
has. War Horse harks back to the golden age of Hollywood. It’s ambitious filmmaking and only a director like Steven Spielberg can pull that off. Who else could do that?

Q: And a film like this is a game changer for you isn’t it?
A: It’s an incredible opportunity. I’ve got my next film, Now Is Good, with Dakota
Fanning, coming out in May. And I’m about to go on to a film called The Railway
Man. It’s an incredible story and I play a wonderful guy called Eric Lomax, who is still
alive and Colin Firth plays Eric as an older man. One of the best things that has
come out of War Horse is first of all I can get work (laughs) and mostly I can almost
choose my work and choose the things I’m passionate about. I’ve been allowed to
do three movies that I’m really passionate about and that’s the greatest gift that any
actor can ask for.

Buy

You can buy War Horse on DVD Amazon.com.

Win

One person is going to win a War Horse  DVD Combo Pack and 1 copy of the companion book “War Horse: The Making of the Motion Picture”

How?

Easy! Just use Rafflecopter below.

Disclosure: 

I was sent this movie to review. The above Amazon.com link is my personal affiliate link, thanks!

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