Thomas Sangster is Tintin?
Child Actor To Portray Hergé's Reporter for Spielberg, Jackson
A Daily Mail story claims that 17-year-old Thomas Sangster may be playing Tintin in Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson upcoming trilogy. But he's not the only one.
Thomas Sangster (Love, Actually) has been cast as Tintin in Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson's upcoming motion-capture trilogy, according to The Daily Mail. Spielberg and Jackson have hooked up with DreamWorks to bring Hergé's legendary Belgian reporter to the silver screen.
The 17-year-old actor's agent isn't responding to the rumours, but the website points out that Sangster is currently studying for his A-levels, but has flown out "to L.A. for pre-production of his next project . . . watch this space."
"Thomas seems to be the one," an unnamed executive told The Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye. "He was just great (in his audition), but I'm not certain if anything has been finalised yet."
Sangster received some good notices for his work in the live-action flicks Love, Actually and Nanny McPhee, and played Ferb in the now-defunct TV series Phineas and Ferb. He has also been cast in Oscar-winning director Jane (The Piano) Campion's upcoming film Bright Star. Sangster supports Ben Whishaw, as poet John Keats, in the live-action flick and Abbie Cornish as Keat's lover Fanny Brawne.
Sangster as Tintin?
There are a couple of problems with this story. Certainly Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are bullet-proof directors whose mere appearance on a movie poster will guarantee a film will get noticed. But movie executives and investors get nervous when an unproven actor gets cast in a major role, especially something as potentially big as Tintin. There's a ton of pressure on a leading actor in a movie; will Sangster be up for the task?
At age 17, Sangster has never headlined a major movie. Both Love, Actually and Nanny McPhee were hits, but he was overshadowed by Bill Nighy and Emma Thompson respectively in both flicks. Also, most teenage actors are stuck in juvenile roles until they're well into their twenties; it's extremely rare that a young actor plays an older character.
The best-known examples of this occurring are when 30-year-old Topol played milkman Tevye in 1971's Fiddler on the Roof (he had previously performed the role onstage in London's West End), and 18-year-old Andrew Strong as obnoxious soul singer Deco Cuffe in 1991's The Commitments.
It's surprising that Jackson and Spielberg would cast a still-developing teenager as Tintin, a character who (presumably) is in his twenties or early thirties. Sangster has some growing to do, between the first and third movies, which means the character will change as well during the course of the movies. Also, will a 17-year-old's voice be convincing as a man in his twenties? If Sangster actually gets the gig, he may only provide the motion-capture while an older actor does the voice.
Adding more confusion to the scenario, IMDb claims that actor/indie filmmaker Kirsten Myburgh (It's Time) is also in the running to play Tintin in the trilogy.
James Cameron Directing Third Tintin Movie?
While the Tintin rumour mill is running, The Daily Mail also claims that über director James Cameron (Terminator) is the long-rumoured third director for one of the movies. Spielberg is directing the first Tintin flick, while Jackson helms the second. It was believed that, if Spielberg and Jackson couldn't find a third director, that they would collaborate on the film themselves.
This seems like a long-shot. Cameron is notorious for taking a long time between projects (Avatar, due in 2009, is the first movie since his 1997 blockbuster Titanic), and Avatar looks to be another monster in the making. Would Cameron even want to leave his house after the production and promotional duties for Avatar? And would the notoriously dictatorial director be willing to work under someone else's thumb, even if it's fellow maestro Steven Spielberg?
What is confirmed in all these Tintin rumours is that longtime Peter Jackson collaborator Andy Serkis has been cast as the hard-drinking Captain Haddock. Serkis provided both the voice and motion-capture for Gollum in Peter Jackson's acclaimed Lord of the Rings saga, and played Smeagol in Return of the King, the last film in the trilogy. Later on, Serkis played sailor Lumpy, and provided motion-capture for the titular ape, in Jackson's King Kong.
Acclaimed Dr. Who writer Steven Moffat will write all three scripts for the upcoming films. Another story claims that Moffat will be adapting Hergé's three two-part stories: The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure, The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun, and Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon.
