The Journal Meets... War Horse director Steven Spielberg 
The chances are if you’re reading this and know anything about movies, you’ll have at least seen, and possibly loved, a lot of Steven Spielberg’s work.
Bursting onto the scene in the 1970’s and practically inventing the modern blockbuster, he’s had memorable hit after hit. The latest addition to this astonishing CV is War Horse, an adaptation of the novel by Michael Morpurgo, which has already become a smash hit in theatres.
“I took more from Richard Curtis’ script,” Spielberg revealed when asked what version of the story he was inspired by. “There’s two writers credited. Lee Hall wrote a wonderful first draft and then Richard came in and he was my primary writer throughout the entire process of pre-production, and right through production of the picture.”
The film follows Albert Narracott (Jeremy Irvine) as he follows beloved horse Joey across Europe during World War One after his companion is sold to the cavalry. But what is it about the subject that inspired the director? “I don’t often mix my metaphors but what makes this unique is that it is a story of love and a story of war,” he explained.
“But I don’t see this really as a war story. If you really look at the movie there’s only about 12 to 15 minutes of combat in the film. I wanted families to see this picture together.
"There’s hardly any blood in this movie at all, unlike Saving Private Ryan where I was trying to acquit the actual testimonies of the young men who fought in France, on D-Day, and I was trying to make that movie as brutally authentic as I possibly could. I took a different approach to this story.”
Looking back on his career, there’s one films that the director feels made him the figure he is today. “The turning point in my career was Jaws, he said with a smile, "because I was a director-for-hire before Jaws, and because it was such a big hit I could do any movie I wanted and Hollywood just wrote me a cheque.”
And the triple Oscar-winning director doesn't expect to retire his clapperboard any time soon, admitting: “Well, I don’t want to quit. Clint Eastwood is one of my best friends. I’ve known Clint for 40 years and we have almost a jokey relationship about retirement.
"Clint’s like 81 now and I always say, ‘OK Clint, are you ready to retire this year?’, and he says, ‘No, are you?’
"So, I’m waiting for the phone call where Clint says he’s hanging up his spurs. If it doesn’t happen for Clint, it won’t happen for me.”
