The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

[matt35mm]

This is too painful for me.  Let's talk about Tintin.

[polkablues]

So I went back and reread "Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure".  The casting of Daniel Craig as Red Rackham seems to be a signal that the past story of Sir Francis Haddock is going to be much more fleshed-out in the movie than in the books.  Which is probably a smart move; it'll make it a lot easier to fill a feature running time.  I'm really curious as to who they're going to bring in to play Professor Calculus.  Besides Thomson and Thompson, Calculus is the primary source of comedy in the books, and he plays a very prominent role in this story (even more so in the Moon books, which I'm pretty damn sure are going to be the basis for the second movie).  Certainly he's the most important character that hasn't had an actor announced yet.  Jim Broadbent would be a pretty amazing choice, and when he's announced you can remember that you read it here first.

I'm still on the fence about which book would be the best choice for a third movie, were one to be made.  "Cigars of the Pharaoh" would be a good one, with its wide span of settings and a very unique, memorable story, but might get passed over because it took place before most of the main secondary characters were introduced (no Captain Haddock, no Calculus, the Thompsons are actually on a mission to arrest Tintin...).  "Land of Black Gold" would be an interesting choice, and its Middle East setting would be a good contrast with the other stories, but it's not one of the more memorable books.  I like "The Calculus Affair", which is kind of a Le Carre-style spy thriller, but it wouldn't be as visually interesting as the other two movies.  It's a tough call.  They could always dig way back and go with "Tintin in the Congo", which is notable for its old-fashioned colonial attitudes and hilariously adorable racism.  Spike Lee could direct.

[Stefen]

^haha what the fuck?

[polkablues]

It was a simpler time then.  A much, much, much simpler time.

[MacGuffin]

Spielberg, Jackson dig into 'Tintin'
Duo's motion-capture film quietly in motion
Source: Variety

Steven Spielberg this week will quietly wrap 32 days of performance-capture lensing on "Tintin," then hand the project to producer Peter Jackson, who will focus on the film's special effects for the next 18 months.

Although the baton-pass is stealthy, "Tintin" is anything but a low-profile project. And that's just the first of many contradictions inherent with the film, which brings together two of cinema's visionaries.

The Tintin comicbook series about a globetrotting teenaged boy reporter, which originated 80 years ago in Belgium, is wildly popular in many countries around the world. In the U.S., however, the character is little-known, especially among children.

Spielberg and Jackson's respective camps have tried to keep a lid on the details of what is expected to become a three-film franchise while hyping the one-of-a-kind aspects of "Tintin's" motion-capture technology, which is being created by Jackson's New Zealand-based effects house Weta.

Just don't ask too many questions.

Spielberg's longtime spokesman Marvin Levy, who welcomed a story on "The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn," said, "You have to see it to understand (the technology). It really can't be described."

But he quickly nixed the idea of a visit to the set. "That wouldn't be feasible," he says.

The film's other producer, Kathleen Kennedy, is happy to talk about "Tintin," but admitted the world Spielberg and Jackson are creating is hard to describe.

"It's extremely difficult to explain to someone unless they are standing here next to me," Kennedy says from the Los Angeles set. "And usually then their reaction is, 'Oh my god.' "

Kennedy and Spielberg acquired the project in 1983 after Spielberg's interest in the project was piqued by critics' insistence that his "Raiders of the Lost Ark" harkened back to Tintin's escapades in exotic locations.

But the pair couldn't realistically begin developing the pic until about two years ago, when motion-capture technology finally caught up with the demands of the story. Spielberg received his introduction into the fledgling technology via his producing role on "Monster House." But Jackson, who joined Kennedy and Spielberg on the project in early 2007, is clearly a master of the form. Both the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "King Kong" elevated performance-capture to never-before-seen realism.

Jackson's role as mo-cap mentor to Spielberg, however, prompts the question: Who exactly is steering the "Tintin" ship?

Spielberg will receive sole directing credit on the first film, though even that distinction seems murky given that Jackson is doing the more time-consuming work, spending a year and a half creating the Tintin's world vs. Spielberg's one month on set. Jackson also traveled to Los Angeles for rehearsals and for the first week of shooting.

"It's hard to delineate between directing and producing on films like this," explains one project insider.

Kennedy insists that the transitions between the two creative talents are relatively seamless. "They are amazingly collaborative, even more so than Steven and George (Lucas were on the 'Raiders' films)."

And then, there are the two filmmakers' differing styles and thematic vibes: Spielberg is more character-oriented and relatively lean while Jackson revels in lavish visuals ... and running times.

The conventional wisdom has always been that Spielberg would direct his "Tintin" film, and Jackson would have his own. (It has long been reported that Jackson will helm the second chapter of three "Tintin" films.) There was even speculation that the two films would be shot back to back, much like Jackson's "Lord of the Rings." However, there is no second film in the immediate future or even a script for one at this point.

Paramount and Sony, the first film's co-financiers, have yet to greenlight a followup to the $120 million project and are waiting for a script before making a decision.

The first film, which was No. 11 in Georges "Herge" Remi's 24-book Tintin series, was written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish.

Jackson is currently taking a stab at the second film and sketching out ideas, though he wouldn't necessarily take screenplay credit for that film and could possibly hand script duties back to Moffat, Wright and Cornish.

Even the casting of the first film suggests a strong Jackson influence: Beside the inclusion of "LOTR's" Andy Serkis, the helmer made a personal call to enlist star Jamie Bell, who played a supporting role in Jackson's "King Kong."

But Spielberg's camp insists he will have a firm handle on all aspects of the film, including its special effects. Jackson and Spielberg have rigged a video conferencing system by which Spielberg is able to see everything Jackson sees at the Weta facility in New Zealand.

Spielberg and Kennedy also are making their presence felt with the project's early marketing decisions.

Paramount, which will distribute the film in all English-speaking territories and Asia, has the bigger challenge, with much lower awareness of the property in these territories, particularly the United States.

But one Par top exec downplayed any perceived challenges.

"It's not like there was any awareness on 'Kung Fu Panda' either," the exec says. "We had to go out and introduce this property to the world."

Still, "Kung Fu Panda" enjoyed a high-profile voice cast, with stars Angelina Jolie and Jack Black tubthumping in the film's behalf. By contrast, the only household name in "Tintin's" cast is current James Bond incarnation Daniel Craig, who is notorious for eschewing press junkets.

Sony, which is handling all overseas regions outside Asia, will likely have an easier time selling the film ahead of its planned 2011 release because the comicbook, which has been translated into 50 languages, remains hugely popular in the territories Sony will handle, including non-English-speaking Europe and India.

If anyone can overcome the film's challenges and silence the questions, it's the combined superpower of Spielberg and Jackson. Still, this highly anticipated collaboration continues to beg more questions than it answers.

[polkablues]

I know I called Jim Broadbent to play Professor Calculus, but I just thought of a name that hadn't occurred to me before: IAN HOLM.  Mark it in pen, it's as good as cast.

And for fuck's sake, people.  TEST FOOTAGE!  It's been two years... I can't deal with the anticipation.  I could get hit by a bus any day now.

And what is it with people referring to Tintin as a teenager?  Nowhere in the books is he referred to as being that young, and there's a whole lot to suggest that he's older than that.  At the very youngest I would say he's supposed to be in his early twenties.  He just happens to be very young-looking.  Perhaps he has low testosterone levels or something.  I don't know, I'm not a doctor. 

Anyway, to summarize:  Ian Holm; test footage; not teenager.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

[picolas]

BAHAHAHA

[MacGuffin]

Approximately six weeks ago Tintin partners Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson were seen in a private taped message shown to attendees of the International Comic Strip Festival in Anglouleme, France, which is on the Atlantic coast. They say they're just about to start motion-capture photography on the first of two movies, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. The video surfaced today via VanityFair.com. Here it is:

http://www.tintin.com/#../tintinTV/tintinTV.swf&lang=fr/&mc=_root.ban2&SSPJ

[Stefen]

Polka, what do you think of the Jamie Bell casting as Tintin?

[polkablues]

Pretty happy with it.  I was terrified with Thomas Sangster that Tintin would end up sounding way too precocious, but with Jamie Bell I don't have to worry about that.  The character is kind of a goodie-goodie in some ways, but he's also kind of a badass... he can shoot and fight his way out of situations just as well as he can think his way out of them.  I don't think that aspect of the character would have been believable with Sangster, but it is with Bell.  Plus, Jamie Bell is just flat out a good actor.  I was thinking a while ago that James McAvoy might have been a good choice, but so far I'm happy with all the casting that's been announced.

[Alexandro]

I have zero excitement for this until I see some footage. It's just silly to have Spielberg at this stage of his career doing this thing. He should be still exploring his dark side in Kubrickian films or something. The Lincoln thing sounds great too. I don't know, Indy 4 was so bad I just want him to stay away from this adventure shit.

[Gold Trumpet]

I have zero excitement for this until I see some footage. It's just silly to have Spielberg at this stage of his career doing this thing. He should be still exploring his dark side in Kubrickian films or something. The Lincoln thing sounds great too. I don't know, Indy 4 was so bad I just want him to stay away from this adventure shit.

I've accepted that the kiddie stuff is just part of his personality.  If it isn't in overt comic stuff like Tintin, it's with an array of action/adventure films. Speilberg only dabbles in serious films. He does it with the same kind of infrequency that Scorsese has with doing religious films. I wish both filmmakers were more serious about these once-every-ten-year subjects, but they never will be. 

[polkablues]

I kind of feel like Spielberg's gotten over his serious side.  He's at the point where he doesn't give a shit about making movies to establish some sort of legacy, he just wants to make whatever he feels like making.  And it's always been the case that what Spielberg enjoys most are fun movies.  Ironically, there are a ton of filmmakers out there who are very good at making serious, intense films, but very few who are actually good at making the sort of popcorn blockbusters of which Spielberg is the master (disregarding a few missteps along the way).  So leave the big serious dramas to the Malicks and the Inarittus and the Scorceses of the world, and leave Spielberg to putting his childhood fantasies on the big screen.

And if his childhood fantasies include lots of Tintin movies, all the better.

[SiliasRuby]

Spielberg only dabbles in serious films. He does it with the same kind of infrequency that Scorsese has with doing religious films. I wish both filmmakers were more serious about these once-every-ten-year subjects, but they never will be. 

It's because most of the 'serious' films don't make much money at all. I'm sure they are very interested, its just that the overall public isn't. The public would rather see adventure films and gangster pictures.

[MacGuffin]

'Tintin' project brings moguls together
Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are pooling their tech-savvy talents to bring a 3-D motion-capture version of the book series to the big screen.
By Rachel Abramowitz; Los Angeles Times

How do Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, the two titans of pop culture, collaborate on the new 3-D motion-capture version of "Tintin"?

With lots of high-tech wizardry.

Spielberg, who's directing the first installment, "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn," recently wrapped 32 days of performance-capture shooting in Los Angeles. Producer Jackson traveled from his New Zealand home base to L.A. for rehearsals and the first week of shooting, and then appeared via an elaborate video-conferencing setup for the rest of the shoot, using a specially designed iChat-type system in which the Kiwi filmmaker can see everything on the set in real time and simultaneously talk with Spielberg. The film is scheduled to hit theaters in 2011.

Spielberg first became intrigued with the cub reporter and his dog Snowy back in the early '80s, when reviewers of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" noted the similarity between Indiana Jones' derring-do and Tintin's globe-trotting escapades. He and producer Kathleen Kennedy have been involved with the books intermittently since that time, but it wasn't until the maturation of motion-capture technology that a serious avenue opened up for re-creating author Hergé's world.

In fact, Spielberg had called Jackson in his office to discuss the intricacies of motion capture -- which Jackson had used to create both Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" and Kong in "King Kong." When he broached the topic of "Tintin," Jackson, born and bred in a part of the world that reveres Hergé's creation, yelped, "I have all the books in back of me."

That's the genesis of this behemoth collaboration, according to Spielberg's spokesman Marvin Levy.

Neither Spielberg nor Jackson nor producer Kennedy would talk further, though the plan is for Jackson to take on the directorial reins for the next film. Of course, both are still multitasking away. Jackson is finishing the Christmas 2009 film "The Lovely Bones," which he adapted from the novel, directed and produced for Spielberg's DreamWorks. He's also writing and executive producing the new "Hobbit" films to be directed by Guillermo del Toro. Spielberg reportedly has his long-planned Abraham Lincoln feature in pre-production, as well as the running of DreamWorks. The Tintin film encompasses "The Secret of the Unicorn" as well as elements from the other books (such as the sequel "Red Rackham's Treasure"), which carry on the tale of Tintin's hunt for the pirate Red Rackham's hidden bounty.

Thomas Sangster, who played Liam Neeson's son in "Love, Actually," was initially cast as Tintin, but he fell out. The filmmakers turned to 23-year-old Jamie Bell, who first broke into films as the title character in "Billy Elliot" and later appeared in Jackson's "King Kong." Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" and Kong in "King Kong," takes on the role of Tintin's closest friend, the friendly alcoholic Captain Haddock. Daniel Craig plays the villainous Red Rackham. The filmmakers have also imported the British comedy mafia behind the wacky satire "Hot Fuzz," including actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as the bumbling detectives Thompson and Thomson, and Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright to pen the latest version of the script.

Discussing performance-capture shooting last summer with an English newspaper, Spielberg said, "The actors have green dots on their faces and wear a kind of wetsuit, and the computer reads every movement and every facial expression." He said computers can also manipulate facial appearance. "It means we can freeze the age," he said. "Tintin will never age."

Next up will be 18 months of work at Jackson's New Zealand-based effects house, WETA. There, the team will re-create much of the look of Hergé's original graphic novels.

Unexpectedly for a Spielberg-Jackson collaboration, "Tintin" has had a tough time finding financing, not only because of its questionable appeal domestically but also because of the $135-million price tag and a deal that allots both filmmakers a humongous portion of the back-end profits. What's more, other motion capture pictures, including "Monster House," "Beowulf" and "The Polar Express," have not been blockbusters.

"It's a very easy-flowing collaboration," said one person involved in the Spielberg-Jackson project who declined to be named. "They bring different energies."

---------------------------------------------------------



At 80, comic-book hero Tintin is ready for Hollywood
Tintin is beloved in Europe and barely known in America. That poses a double challenge for Steven Spielberg's movie adaptation.
By Henry Chu; Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Brussels -- He turns 80 this year but still looks 18, with the same fair-haired quiff. Like Madonna and Sting, two other famous blonds, he goes by one name. Mention him and a European is likely to cheer, while an American is more apt to go, "Huh?" But that's destined to change now that Steven Spielberg is making a movie based on his life.

He is Tintin, intrepid cub reporter and nemesis of evildoers, whose long career in numerous cartoon strips and comic books, with faithful dog Snowy at his side, has made him one of Belgium's most celebrated exports (up there with chocolate and waffles).

His slightly nondescript but instantly recognizable face is everywhere in Brussels these days, stamped on magnets, posters, key rings and other souvenirs to commemorate the 80th anniversary of his creation. Academics comb the cartoons for clues to Tintin's ontological meaning and his sexuality. A $20-million museum devoted to his creator is set to open in June outside the Belgian capital.

And amplifying all the buzz -- the Tintin-nabulation, you might say -- is a big-budget 3-D adaptation (using a high-tech motion-capture process) from Spielberg, who bought the movie rights to Tintin's adventures more than 25 years ago. Joining Spielberg on the project, envisioned as a trilogy of films, is director Peter Jackson of "Lord of the Rings" fame. The first part of filming just wrapped in L.A. (see accompanying story).

In a neat bit of foreshadowing in 1932's "Tintin in America," his sole voyage to the States, a victorious Tintin finds himself surrounded by paparazzi and a Hollywood agent who shouts: "Paranoid Productions are starring you in their billion-dollar movie spectacular!" Spielberg's first Tintin film is budgeted at $130 million.

Not too shabby a fate for an illustrated, French-speaking eternal Boy Scout whose humble origins trace to a conservative Roman Catholic magazine in Belgium between the world wars. "Tintin is a pure Belgian product, with a universal impact," said Claude Javeau, a professor emeritus at the Free University of Brussels.

The character's action-packed international romps gave Belgians a window on the wider world from their tiny country, while fans across the globe, especially fellow Europeans, embraced his unassuming, kindhearted and resourceful personality. It also helped that Snowy was adorable.

Tintin sprang from the brain and pen of a young man named Georges Remi, who drew under the name Hergé (his initials transposed and pronounced in French). The budding artist worked for the 20th Century, a newspaper run by a right-wing priest who sought to promulgate Catholic values.

At the time, that meant anti-communism, and so Tintin's debut in "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets" was a breathless thriller set in a Russia full of boorish apparatchiks and "poor idiots who still believe in a 'Red Paradise.' "

Hergé would later regret those depictions, as well as less-than-flattering portrayals of Africans and Jews in subsequent tales. But his hero's first outing was a hit, and Hergé went on to rework the formula in 23 more adventures over the next 50 years, in books that have been translated into dozens of languages.

His knickerbockers-clad protagonist gets whisked around the world, from China to Egypt to Australia, and even into outer space to foil the nefarious schemes of crooks, coup plotters and master criminals. Threats and bribes do not deter him; neither do a pair of bumbling, bushy-mustached cops called Thomson and Thompson.

In every adventure, Tintin lands in hot water -- "This time I'm done for!" is a frequent refrain -- but a combination of quick thinking, luck and help from Snowy enables him to outfox his enemies. He manages to evade even his editors, for, despite being a reporter, he is only ever once shown writing anything.

Children devour the exciting plots and the hair-raising escapes aboard planes, trains and automobiles (speedboats too). Their parents are charmed by the good humor and the artwork, which, though seemingly simple, is a model of lucidity and detail. Hergé's mastery of the so-called ligne claire style, or "clear line," influenced numerous European cartoonists after him.

"When I was a young child, I read 'Tintin' and loved it. When I was older, I continued to read it. And now I am much older, and I continue to enjoy them," said Benoit Peeters, a Belgian cartoonist who knew Hergé well. "This is very rare. You have some comics for children, others for adults. This is for everyone. You can say 'Peanuts' by Charles Schulz has the same quality. Not many have."

Like "Peanuts," the Tintin books are unremittingly wholesome. Modest to a fault, Tintin himself is almost never less than a paragon of old-fashioned virtue, which is unsurprising, given that Hergé modeled him on a previous creation named Totor, a Boy Scout leader. "Tintin is above reproach. He is trying to save the widows and orphans," Javeau said.

Hergé's own strong moralizing impulse meant that his stories contained hardly a hint of sex or alcohol -- except, in the latter case, as a comically corrupting influence. Toward the end of his life, Hergé eliminated depictions of smoking from his cartoons as well, Javeau said.

But there was a darker side to the conservative rectitude. During World War II, Hergé agreed to publish his Tintin strips in the newspaper Le Soir, or the Evening, a mouthpiece for Nazi occupying forces that spewed pernicious anti-Jewish propaganda. His defenders contend that Hergé was simply being politically naive, but a recent authorized biography suggests that, though not a Nazi, Hergé was not unaware of what Le Soir stood for.

Traces of anti-Semitic stereotypes crop up in some Tintin books but were excised from later editions. Even more distasteful, at least to modern eyes, is Tintin's adventure in what was then the Belgian Congo, in which the Africans are rendered with ludicrously large red lips and portrayed as little more than savages in need of civilization and a proper work ethic.

Americans did not fare too well under Hergé's hand either, which could help explain why Tintin never caught on in the U.S. In "Tintin in America," he jousts with "Red Indians," rapacious oil barons and a gaggle of Chicago mobsters, including Al Capone, the only real-life villain ever to be featured in a Tintin story.

American comics fans were already following the exploits of Dick Tracy and Superman by the time the indefatigable, squeaky-clean Tintin was making it big across the Atlantic.

"America has its own traditions, very rich, through comic strips or comic books with superheroes," Peeters said. " 'Tintin' is in a way a graphic novel, but the style of the books was very far from American standards. . . . The graphic style is different. There is no equivalent. You can find some people in the United States interested in that type of comics, but not a large audience."

Tintin's relative obscurity in the U.S. and his huge reputation in Europe will pose a double challenge to Spielberg and his "Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn," which stars two British actors, Jamie Bell and Daniel Craig, as Tintin and the villain, respectively.

Many American viewers will be encountering Tintin for the first time, while many Europeans are extremely protective of a hero they consider their own and suspicious of how an American filmmaker might tamper with the image of him they have built up.

A taste of that defensiveness came in January after a well-known British columnist, who is gay, suggested that Tintin might be similarly inclined. After all, the world depicted in the books is almost exclusively male, Tintin is devoted to his fluffy white terrier, and he eventually moves in with his friend, the middle-aged sailor Captain Haddock.

"What debate can there be when the evidence is so overwhelmingly one-way?" columnist Matthew Parris asked in the Times of London.

That Tintin might be gay is not a new idea, though the books themselves determinedly steer clear of sex or romance of any sort. "Perhaps there was a horizontal relationship between Tintin and Captain Haddock, but you never see it," Javeau said.

Still, Parris' column was met with cries of Gallic horror in France, where the newspaper Le Figaro complained in a headline: "They have walked on Tintin."

Although some alterations to the original Tintin will probably be inevitable in the film, Hergé himself apparently approved of a Spielberg-produced movie version of his famous creation. Whatever ambivalent attitudes seem to mark "Tintin in America," the artist dreamed of success in the U.S. and once contacted Walt Disney about working together, to no avail, Peeters said.

Spielberg bought the movie rights not long before Hergé's death in 1983.

"Hergé was very enthusiastic. He liked the first films of Spielberg," Peeters recalled. "Hergé said, 'Yes, I think this guy can make this film. Of course, it will not be my Tintin, but it can be a great Tintin.' And I think it was one of the last happy moments in Hergé's life."