I arrived at seven o’clock in the morning dressed in all my buckles and belts and whistles, ready to go. And they were rehearsing the last — they were re-rehearsing with the stunt riders. And the first thing that happened — Steven, that inimitable silhouette; the baseball cap, the beard, the Barbour — he calls me over and says, “Tom, come and look at the shot.” And he shows me this thing that — um, essentially there was a stunt rider standing in for me chasing a tracking vehicle, a four-by-four car, with a camera crane and the camera sort of hanging out the back of it which is remote controlled — and 120 horses charging at 40 miles an hour across 400 meters of open field, to an imaculately created German camp, with 300 extras running away. And the stunt rider was having to stay within ten feet of the lens. No further forward because he would have been out of focus, no further back; out of focus. And he said, “you good to do this, Tom?” And I said “yes, sir”, and got on this horse, and I could feel — I mean, horses are so sensitive they can feel everything you’re feeling, they can sense fear, they can sense confidence, they can sense calm and peace, they can sense arrogance. The moment you can have airs in graces, you’re off. I remember trying — I mean, my Joey was like a Ferrari, he was so sensitive, the moment you put your foot on the excelerator, it was just like, “whoa!” And he was pawing the ground — he was so — he was ready to go! And I was just like, “whoaaa boy, whoaaa. Take it easy.” And the crew needed to take their time for focus marks and lights; final things needed to be checked. And then eventually I heard this “roll sound”. I thought, “my God, here we go.” I could see five - six hundred yards ahead of me was the end of where I was going to be. There were thirty horses fanning out to my left, another thirty behind me, thirty behind them. You could hear the swords and the metal clinking against the sides of the bridles and the saddles and all of these horses doing this (scrapes heel against floor), and the stunt riders going “whoa, whoa,” and just the noise of it. And I thought, this is about as real as it gets. Roll sound, camera speed, sound speed, camera set, and then on the bullhorn, Steven Spielberg, my childhood hero, “okay Tom… action!” And calling out the orders, which you see Benedict give in the film, and finally, once we’re at full canter, raising my sword and screaming charge at the top of my lungs. And then the first thing I remember, if I remember anything, is the noise, the noise of the hooves, and the noise of 120 stuntmen screaming charge at the top of their lungs, and the wind in my face and the feeling of, essentially, the miracle of human flight. Letting this living, breathing Ferrari run, and feeling how excited the horse was and how excited I was, this tracking vehicle tearing up through my left, and uh, by the end, by the time I got to the other side I just… tears are streaming down my face, and you know, there was no acting required, it was absolutely amazing.- Tom Hiddleston talking about the cavalry charge during the filming of War Horse. At Meet the Filmmakers: Richard Curtis and Tom Hiddleston, Apple Store Q & A.
This part. This part right here made me fall even more in love with Tom, which I really didn’t think was even possible.
