War Horse is a 2011 war drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, from screenplay written by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis. It is based on Michael Morpurgo's 1982 novel of the same name and its 2007 stage adaptation. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Peter Mullan, Emily Watson, Niels Arestrup, Jeremy Irvine, David Thewlis, Tom Hiddleston and Benedict Cumberbatch. Set before and during World War I, its plot follows Joey, a bay Irish Hunter horse raised by British teenager Albert as he is bought by the British Army, leading him to encounter various people throughout Europe, in the midst of the war and its tragedies.

Steven Allan Spielberg is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director in history. He is the recipient of many accolades, including three Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, and four Directors Guild of America Awards, as well as the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2006, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2009 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. Seven of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".