Equine Movie Stars Need Make Up Artists Too!

Ali Bannister was an extremely important person on the set of Steven Spielberg's wonderful movie, War Horse - Ali's job title on the film was “Equine Artistic Advisor”.

The Equine Artistic Director was vital to the success of the film as the horses had to look like they were in a war, or a rainstorm, and all the Joeys had to look just exactly like Joey was described originally in the book version of War Horse - a bright bay with four white socks and a white cross-shaped star! 

Imagine having eight horses with varying amounts of white (or not) on their different-coloried bodies. Now imagine that each and every one of them has to have the same length of mane, falling just right, and the same tail. The forelock has to be the same length and when there were multiple takes of an action shot, sweat would need to be added or subtracted and mud reapplied because, as all horsemen know, mud changes color as it dries.

Sounds like the make up artists to the human stars may have had it easy compared to Ali!

Ali is also an equine artist and her beautiful work was also included in the movie.

Listen to Ali's radio interview to find out more about her fascinating job and hear how her equine art also played an important role in War Horse.

Quick Link

• Visit www.warhorseart.com - a special site Ali has set up for her art from War Horse to benefit horse-related charities, including her now-famous portrait of Joey for author Michael Morpurgo, which has been made available as prints.