War Horse, the movie (2011) - updated with cast list

I've not been too sure about this production; I mean, the best thing about the play is how theatrical it is, while the book is... well, with all the respect due to one of our foremost and finest children's writers, it's just a kids book about a horse. Morpurgo has written finer and deeper novels than this. (If you want a real tear-fest, you should pick up Private Peaceful sometime!)

So yeah: if the movie is based on the play, then that's not going to work because film and theatre are wholly different media. But if it's based on the book, it's going to need a lot of work and extra depth.

Sooo... I've not generally been interested in this production, because of the ways in which it might not work, but if Redmayne and Hiddleston are involved, I might actually wee a little bit and go see it at least twice. :3 And that's coming from the girl who hasn't been to the cinema since early 2009 (although thanks to Hiddleston, I'll DEFINITELY be going to see Thor! :3). XD

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https://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=28148

Looks like Eddie Redmayne was just a rumour. To summarise:

Albert: Jeremy Irvine
Dad: Peter Mullan
Mum: Emily Watson
Lyons: David Thewlis (can't have a film about British people without him in it! )
Major Stewart: Benedict Cumberbatch
Sgt. Sam Perkins: Stephen Graham
Captain Nichols: Tom Hiddleston
Grandfather: Niels Arestrup
Emilie: Celine Buckens
Gunther: David Kross
Lieutenant Waverly: Patrick Kennedy
Brandt: Rainer Bock
Friedrich: Nicolas Bro
Michael: Leonard Carow
David Lyons: Robert Emms

Hiddleston and and Graham are also only "in talks" at the moment, apparently.

Updated On: 6/17/10 at 07:39 AM

He is indeed an excellent actor, but be warned that if the stage version is anything to go by, he will only be in the film for about ten minutes! Could be different in the book/film, though.

Nice to see that one of the stage cast made it into the film, albeit in a much smaller part - Robert Emms played the lead role on stage in the last cast and I thought he was excellent.

Peter Mullan and Emily Watson should be good as the parents, and I've never seen David Thewlis or Benedict Cumberbatch give a bad performance. Never heard of Nicolas Bro, but I hope he's better than the Friedrich I saw on stage.

Updated On: 6/17/10 at 03:11 PM

I very much doubt that he will - John Williams always does the music for his films and I doubt Spielberg would ask him to work with pre-existing music. It's a shame, though - as much as I like a lot of Williams's music, the Sutton/Tams score is far better than anything he's written in years. I'm not even usually that keen on that kind of music, but it's just beautiful and suits the play so well.

Off-topic question, but about the score: I wonder if anyone who has the CD could tell me if the music from when the foal transforms into the adult horse is on there? And if so, which track? (I remember the moment in the play clearly, I just can't remember what, if any, music there was at that point.)

Updated On: 6/20/10 at 01:53 PM

Thanks! x

I'm guessing it's the same programme that was shown on TV a few months ago - if so, it was pretty well-done and informative. And Kit Harington is really very, very nice-looking (though his accent sounded horrendous in the clips from the show - hope he didn't sound like that on stage!). Definitely worth seeing if you enjoyed the show.