Spielberg Starts Tintin
Thomas Sangster, Andy Serkis Expected To Star in DreamWorks Film
May 12, 2008
Steven Spielberg has announced that he will start filming the first Tintin movie this fall.
The über-director, who is currently promoting his live-action flick Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, told the German weekly magazine FOCUS (via Variety) that he will start work on the first Tintin movie in September. He said that, since the Tintin flicks will be motion-capture, that it won't be affected by a possible screen actors' strike.
This news also pushes back two live-action films that Spielberg had on the front burner: a planned Abraham Lincoln biopic starring Liam Neeson (Schindler's List), and The Trial of the Chicago Seven, an Aaron Sorkin script about the 1968 trial of several Vietnam protesters, potentially starring Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat).
Award-winning scriptwriter Stephen Moffat (Dr. Who) will be writing all three Tintin movie scripts. DreamWorks Animation, which Spielberg owns a major piece of, will distribute the flicks.
Who is Acting in Tintin?
Despite the production start date getting finalized, there are still a few questions about who will lend their bodies to the motion-capture work for these movies.
The only definite so far is that Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong) will portray Captain Haddock, the drunken seaman who accompanies Tintin on his adventures. Serkis is no stranger to motion-capture, having portrayed Gollum in LotR and the titular ape in King Kong.
Where the rumours get going is with the other two actors who have been attached to the project. Thomas Sangster (Love, Actually) is still unconfirmed as Tintin, and IMDb has listed Eric Stoltz (The Waterdance) as playing Dr. Krospell.
There a few issues with the latter casting. The general assessment is that Spielberg, Jackson and Moffat will be adapting The Secret of the Unicorn, The Crab With The Golden Claw and Red Rackham’s Island, one of the few trilogies that Hergé ever wrote (most of his Tintin books were self-contained).
However, the character of Dr. Krospell doesn't appear in any of those three books, which puts the whole thing in doubt. Spielberg and Jackson have repeatedly said that their cinematic adaptations would be as faithful as possible to Hergé's stories.
Peter Jackson will direct the second Tintin movie, and then Spielberg and Jackson will hunt for a third director for the last flick. James Cameron (Titanic) has been rumoured for that coveted third position but Spielberg and Jackson have announced that if a third director cannot be found, the two of them will collaborate on the final film.
Fun Fact: There are two other characters named Tintin (or Tin-Tin) in popular culture. The first Tin-Tin is the daughter of the Tracys manservant Kyrano in the 1960's puppet show Thunderbirds.
The second Tin-Tin is a violent thug who gets quickly dispatched by James O'Barr's undead hero in his graphic novel The Crow.
