Steven Spielberg Buys Film Rights for War Horse (Puppets by Handspring!)

December 22nd, 2009 by Ben - Editor

Alert! War Horse, the play adapted by Nick Stafford from Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 youth novel – the play’s been a hit in London’s West End, in a production that features puppets by the Handspring Puppet Company – has just been optioned for a film by director Steven Spielberg:

Theatre audiences have been mesmerised by the tale of a boy who braves the trenches of the First World War in the hope of finding his beloved horse. Michael Morpurgo, who wrote War Horse in 1982, welcomed news that his story was being developed by the director. “I can think of no one better to do this,” he told the London Evening Standard yesterday. “It is so exciting. I only just learnt this in the last two days. After such a fantastic success with the play, it needs someone of his imagination and skill at turning books into great visual experiences for the film version.”
The film rights to the 1982 novel have been acquired by Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios. The director said that he had been deeply moved by the story of a young boy from Devon who follows the horse to the Western Front in 1914.

Complete article at TimesOnline

The news comes as a timely reminder that Jane Taylor’s Handspring Puppet Company has just come out from David Krut, and is available in both hard and softcover editions. Who knows? Maybe a Handspring puppet will make it into the film!

Book details