Last week we didn’t report on rumours that Steven Spielberg had cast Eddie Redmayne in one of the main roles in his film version of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse, because almost as soon as the rumours emerged, Dreamworks shot them down saying that nobody had been cast as yet and any speculation was hugely premature.
However now the usually reliable The Wrap is saying that not only are the stories about Redmayne true (with Production Weekly, which first broke the news, sticking by its story as well), but that Tom Hiddleston, who’ll be seen next year as the villainous Loki in Thor, will also be in the movie.
If true, Redmayne will star as the lead human character Albert, in the dramatic tale of a boy and his horse, Joey, who are separated when the animal is sold off to go to war in 1914. However their fates are intertwined and while the horse faces increasing horrors, seeing the front line from both the British and German sides, he is eventually reunited with his former owner, who by that point is old enough to have joined the war effort himself.
There’s no news on what role Hiddleston will play, although it’s likely to be the cavalry soldier who becomes Joey’s rider when he first goes to war. Dreamworks is still saying it’s too early to say who the cast will be (and to be honest, it’s all about the horse anyway), but the truth is that with the shoot due to begin in August, it’s difficult to believe they don’t know who’ll play the major roles by now.
War Horse is due for release August 2011.