Steven Spielberg Lines Up Cast for War Horse

Hey, remember when Steven Spielberg actually directed movies and didn't just produce them? (Deep breath: He's shepherding Clint Eastwood's Hereafter, The Coen Brothers' True Grit, Transformers 3, Cowboys and Aliens, Real Steel, Super 8 and I Am Number Four, to name seven.) Well, not only does he have The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn coming in 2011, but he's also got that reported adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's novel, War Horse, on the way as well. And that one's just staffed up with the nicest set of UK character actors this side of Harry Potter.

War Horse -- about a boy and his horse who have their bond separated when the equine heads off to World War I -- will star Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan and, in the lead role, newcomer Jeremy Irvine, who apparently beat out Tony Award winner Eddie Redmayne.

If that doesn't sound like a typical Spielbergian cast -- as in: Where's Shia? -- think of War Horse as Empire of the Sun, but with horses and man tears. Does this mean Irvine will someday wind up playing Batman and cursing out cinematographers? If a sequel to Newsies is involved too, here's hoping.

· Exclusive: 'War Horse' Cast Announced [Empire]