\n\t\t\t\tJeremy Irvine\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\nWar Horse was given a Royal premier in London earlier this week \u2013 what was it like having Prince William and Princess Kate in the audience?<\/strong><\/p>\nFirst of all \u2013 what an honour. I had a lovely chat with William and Kate and we all got to go back to the palace for drinks afterwards and at one point I found myself having a glass of wine with Prince William and going \u2018this is so, so strange!\u2019 They\u2019re lovely people and what an honour that they came to a cinema to see my fat face on the screen. But we also had almost 400 service men and women turn up which really got me. I was speechless. Really speechless.<\/p>\n
Was Joey at the premier as well?<\/strong><\/p>\nOne of the Joey\u2019s. There were about 14 [to make the film], although I think for the good of the carpets in the cinema it was probably best that he didn\u2019t come in to see the movie. I was amazed there wasn\u2019t a horrific bodily accident from the horse at any point. <\/p>\n
It is a well known fact of cinema that you should never work with animals \u2013 was Joey a difficult co-star?<\/strong><\/p>\nI don\u2019t think at any point were we ever not able to get something because of a horse misbehaving. These are the most highly trained animals in the world \u2013 they are acting horses. All the horses have bigger CV\u2019s than me! One of them was Seabiscuit. I remember when I first started learning to ride with one, I\u2019d get off and it would start doing stretches. I learnt very quickly that there has to be that mutual respect thing otherwise on camera when you\u2019re in that close up and there is nowhere to hide, if that relationship isn\u2019t real with that horse then it\u2019s going to be very obvious to people who are watching so it was important to spend two months before we started filming to spend all day with them, building relationships and learning how to work with them.<\/p>\n
Were there ever any mishaps on set where a horse did have a \u201cbodily accident\u201d in front of everyone and they had to shout \u201ccut\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\nYes, of course. And they always pick the moment when you are in your most intense close up to do the biggest fart you have ever heard.<\/p>\n
Would other co-stars, such as Emily Mortimer [Irvine\u2019s on-screen mother], ever have that same reaction during an emotional scene?<\/strong><\/p>\n[Laughs] No! Emily was great. I mean, she still likes to eat hay, but she was lovely.<\/p>\n
The cast includes some terrific actors, Mortimer, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch, and to be directed by Speilberg in your first role \u2013 how does that all feel?<\/strong><\/p>\nI never really know what to say to this. You know? It\u2019s, like, being in a first movie and being in a Spielberg movie. I had nearly two years of not getting any work. I was auditioning and wasn\u2019t even getting call backs for commercials, let alone for a movie.<\/p>\n
Did you ever get close to giving up?<\/strong><\/p>\nWhen you are at those really low points \u2013 and it\u2019s quite a lonely business because you\u2019re self employed and on your own a lot \u2013 unless you really, really want it then you are going to get to one of those points where you think of doing something else.<\/p>\n
You quit LAMDA, right?<\/strong><\/p>\nI did a year and then I didn\u2019t get back into LAMDA after that, actually. But I made a decision early on that I wanted to get away from the crowd. I had a friend who was a camera man and so we went away and filmed a showreel and I went around agents myself and told them it was for professional work. I did that for eight months and nobody<\/em> was interested and then eventually a lovely agent did take me on and the second audition that they put me up for was War Horse.<\/p>\nAre you still in touch with anyone from drama school?<\/strong>
\nYeah, yeah, they\u2019re all my very close friends.<\/p>\nAre they not seething that you landed a Spielberg film as a first job?<\/strong>
\nOf course not! They are all wonderfully talented and I\u2019m sure they will do very well as well. But it\u2019s one of those industries where a lot of it is about being in the right place at the right time. I owe all of this to that one lucky break. A lot of wonderful actors that I know haven\u2019t had that lucky break and maybe never will. But it\u2019s about being ready when that moment comes.<\/p>\nWar Horse is in cinemas this Friday, the 13th January 2012.<\/em>
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