BBC Radio Gloucestershire interview with artist Ali Bannister, June 2011

Hear how Ali Bannister got involved in the film of War Horse and about her experiences on set from BBC Radio interview.

 Since the success of War Horse, fans of the book and play have been making a pilgrimage to the author's home of Iddesleigh in Devon, England where the book is set to see the painting he describes as hanging in the village hall. Mrs Weeks, who lives next door, was inundated with questions about the painting which sadly never existed.

Morpurgo said:

'They came to the lady who lives next door to the village hall, she's a dear friend, and she came to be in the position where she had to say, "It's not there I'm afraid" or "We've taken it down for cleaning" or endlessly having to make excuses for the fact there was no picture up in the hall.'

'When the movie was being made, Spielberg commissioned an artist called Ali Bannister to do some sketches of the horse [to go into the film].'

'We went on set and met her and it was my wife's idea, that because of this thing that kept happening in the village, she thought it would be nice if there was a horse and painted just like it should be.'

Ali said, "When I approached Michael on set it was only to ask about the painting that he described in the book. As a fan of the book I had always wondered if it was real or not. The description of the painting had been the starting point for my research as head of the Equine Hair and Make-up department on the film but I couldn't find a picture of it anywhere."

"In the end I didn't have a chance to ask him about it. When I mentioned that I was doing the sketches of Joey to go into the film, Michael's wife, Clare jumped in, saying:

Ali couldn't have been more surprised, excited or flattered. "It has been a huge honour for me to produce the painting I had longed for so many years to see. I hope people will enjoy it for many years to come."

In Ali, Michael saw an opportunity to "turn a big black lie into a small white one". The frame even bears the inscription from the book, 'Joey by Captain Nicholls, Autumn 1914'.

"It was important to me that the painting matched the one that Michael had in his head. Before I started painting I created digital mock-ups and we would discuss things like whether Joey's tail should be docked and Michael would make suggestions like removing the tack and adding a manger and some blankets into the corner.

When asked if she minded having to sign a painting with someone else's name, Ali replied, "Not at all. I want people to see the painting in the hall, feel connected to the story and believe that it could have been painted by Captain Nicholls. I want them to think that's what Joey looked like."

The painting is particularly special to Ali as her great-great uncle served with the Artists Rifles in the First World War. She was also inspired by a painting that she grew up with. "My grandparents had a portrait of a horse called Old Jack, painted by my great-great grandfather in 1879. Old Jack was his horse and he clearly loved him very much. He was not the best bred or most beautiful horse in the world so my great-great grandfather must have appreciated him for his character, and I find that rather endearing. Even as a small child it held a certain magic for me and I used to run to the painting each time I visited."

War Horse, written in 1981, tells of Joey's amazing journey from a Devon farm to the battlefields in France. Inspiration for the story came from talking with people in the local pub, the Duke of York, about their experiences of the First World War. They included Albert Weeks, Wilfred Ellis and Captain Arthur Budgett. As a result the book, War Horse, is dedicated to them.

Poignantly, Mrs Weeks, who had to send so many fans away disappointed, is the daughter-in-law of Albert Weeks. Both she and Dorothy Ellis, 90, widow of Wilfred Ellis, attended the unveiling of the painting on 6th December 2011.

Afterwards Mrs Weeks said that she was delighted the painting had gone up in the village hall. "I'm very pleased about it. My father-in-law, Albert, didn't speak to me about the war but I'm glad the painting has now gone up in the village. I expect he'd have been happy about that."

She is now braced for more visitors, but said she was happy to continue opening the hall to them. "I don't mind at all, it's very nice to meet these people."

"The new painting is make-believe, but I don't think people will care. To have it there now is wonderful."

I was at my parents’ house and their neighbours had friends down to try out a horse for their son. I was at a loose end so went with them as a sort of crash test dummy to check that the horse wasn’t going to kill him!

I got talking to the dad, Gary Tomkins, over a bacon sandwich, and it turned out that he had been one of the art directors on the Harry Potter films. We got onto the subject of art and I showed him some of my work. He said: “It’s such a shame I didn’t meet you weeks ago as I’m working on Spielberg’s version of War Horse.” I knew the book so I was excited to find out that they were making a film of it but didn’t think any more of it than that.

But the very next day I got a phone call from Gary to say that Rick Carter, the production designer who won an Oscar for his work on Avatar, had just seen my website and wanted me to come in for a meeting the next morning!

I don’t get phone calls like that everyday, so I grabbed a sketchbook and went. Rick and I talked about horses, how they show expression, and how to capture that expression. He showed me printouts from my website that had caught his eye in particular and explained that there was a scene in the film where one of the characters was sketching the lead horse, Joey.

He told me that they were sending sketches by Jack Dudman from the art department and an independent artist to Spielberg in LA later that week and could they send some scans from my sketchbook too?

Obviously I agreed. Luckily my work was chosen and gave me the chance to produce drawings for the film.

My friend Alise has a retired event horse called Beau. He’s a genuine and attractive horse but it was his Joey-like spirit in overcoming all obstacles that drew me to him. Beau was known for his exuberant leaps, but sadly he went blind and his confidence went with his eyesight. Luckily for Beau, another of Alise’s horses, a thoroughbred ex-racehorse called Sage, stepped in to look after him. She literally became his seeing-eye horse - leading him safely round the field, to the water trough and wherever he needed to go.

With Sage’s help, Beau regained some of his confidence. It was with great delight that I opened an email from Alise to see a photo of Beau enjoying a leap after a good roll!

So that was one of the photos I worked from. It appears in the film on the left-hand side of Captain Nicholls’ sketchbook when it arrives with Albert.

A note to add to the end of this story is that not too long ago, Sage very sadly died of old age. To add to her grief, Alise was very concerned about what would happen to Beau without his faithful friend to guide him. Amazingly another horse in the field stepped up to take over Sage’s role. This behaviour proves to me just how incredible horses are.

For more information on Beau, please see Alise’s photostream here »

One drawing from my website that stood out to Rick Carter for the horses' confidence and strength was a portrait of retired American racehorse ‘Jaguar Hope’, a son of Turkoman, grandson of the late, great Alydar.

I had stumbled across photos of Jag on the photo sharing website flickr.com and was entranced as he was stunning. I had been following his progress from racehorse to showhorse posted by his owner, Wendy Wooley née Uzelac, for some years when a terrible thing happened. Jag broke his leg in a freak accident in the field: a compound fracture which was beyond medical help and he had to be put down.

Months later Wendy commissioned me from the States to do a portrait of her beloved horse that I had so admired.

When Rick Carter picked Jag’s portrait from the bunch as one that showed a ‘Joey-like’ zeal I was thrilled to produce some sketches from it for the film. I was dying for a drawing of Jag to appear on the big screen as a memorial to him for poor Wendy.

Sadly, in the film the sketch of Jag doesn’t quite show. But he was there. And as a bonus Jag turned up on the War Horse caps that were given to the 600 cast and crew after filming. I explained to the film production team about Wendy and her story and they kindly found a cap that I could send to her in Kentucky.

(see photos below)

For more information on Jaguar Hope, please see Wendy’s blog here »