We know that director
Steven Spielberg does not horse around when it comes to making films.
InCinemas.sg brings you excerpts from an exclusive interview of the director himself, courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Singapore.
WAR HORSE is now screening incinemas.
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Before we start with the interview, here is the trailer of the film to set up the mood!
Q1: Were you nervous at all about the idea of working with horses? How did you approach getting the performances you needed?
Spielberg: The thing is, I haven’t made a lot of horse movies. Usually in my movies, and in most people’s movies, in Westerns and the “Indiana Jones” films for instance, a horse is something that Harrison Ford rides on. My job is to focus the audience on Indiana Jones, not his trusted steed.
But just living with horses for so many years, I know that they really do convey tremendous expression, and it’s easy for anybody to read. But movies don’t often require us to spend any time dwelling on how the horse is feeling. So in this case, when I saw what the puppeteers had done so brilliantly on stage with the play “War Horse,” I realized that they weren’t forcing the horse to act like a human...but they were simply replicating the behavior of horses that we all know but most of us don’t observe.
Bobby Lovgren, our kind of horse whisperer who had done “Seabiscuit” with us, came on board to make the picture with us. He and his team performed miracles with the horses.
Q2: The performances and the emotions you got from those horses must have been very satisfying. Can you talk about that?
Spielberg: There were times in the movie when I wouldn’t even tell the horses what to do. They’d be in a scene and would be reacting in that scene in ways I couldn’t imagine a horse would be able to react or act. And there are times you just have to sit back and thank your lucky stars that the horses somehow were cognizant that something was required of them that none of us could tell them, but they intuitively were able to give it to the moment in the scene.
Q3: You and John Williams have collaborated for almost 40 years. He continues to deliver extraordinary music. What do you think of his work on this film?
Spielberg: The “War Horse” score is so evocative once again of the land, the place, the times and the relationships between boy and horse. And John just found all of these beautiful themes that I think really bond this movie and that really make my work a lot easier. John is able to go beyond what I do to create a very humane and feeling story, and even beyond I think what the actors are able to contribute, to bond all of us together with a sound that made all of our work look like we had planned it.
The music has great pacing. The music goes from these big symphonic, orchestral movements to the gentlest music with single instruments like flute and piano and then back again to this full orchestra. And John felt it. He just felt it. And he doesn’t think it. He doesn’t intellectualize his approach to scoring. It’s what he feels from scene to scene. And that’s why he is who he is.
A taste of the film's evocative music!
Q4: The scene hauling the cannon up the hill was very intense. How complex was it?
Spielberg: It was hard for the horses because even though they were assisted by some mechanical help to help pull and take some of the load off, it was difficult to get that cannon up the hill. We actually built the cannon, but we didn’t build it as heavy as a real cannon would be. It wasn’t made of cast iron, but it was heavy. So the horses actually needed help, our help, in getting the gun up the hill.
We had a lot of Germans pulling the wheels and turning the wheels that were attached to the cannon. But at the same time that was one of the most gut-wrenching scenes for me to shoot, because every time we got to the top of the hill, we just had to go back down for take two or for another angle.
Q5: Please talk about the sound design work on “War Horse.”
Spielberg: Our sound designer, Gary Rydstrom, went out to find authenticity with his sound design. He wanted the sounds to sound close to what we would be picking up if we had been in those situations. He spent a lot of time with mics, walking the moors, picking up what the wind sounds like when it’s close to the ground and what the wind sounds like when it’s 30 feet up in the air.
He loves recording sounds for perspective. When you’re inside a building, he wants that room tone to be very special to the experience of our own ears and what we recall hearing when we’re in a small space as opposed to simply a larger space with a higher ceiling. That’s a whole different ambience. That’s something that I don’t expect the audience ever to pick up on or listen to, but it adds one more thread of authenticity to the story.
Do check out the clip below to learn more about what went into the sound design of "War Horse"!