We don’t really want to report this, but because of the huge names involved, we have to. Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson have teamed up to direct and produce three back to back feature films based on Georges Remi’s Belgian comic-strip Tintin for DreamWorks. But Why? It’s a passion project. Speilberg has been trying to get the film rights to the series for more than 25 years.
The Adventures of Tintin is a 70 years series of Belgian comic books originally created by Belgian artist Hergé, the pen name of Georges Remi. The series follows Tintin, a young Belgian reporter and traveller who is aided in his adventures by his faithful dog Snowy. There have been both live-action and animated film adaptations of The Adventures of Tintin.
According to the story, the two filmmakers will each direct at least one of the films, which will be created in digital 3D using performance capture technology. Jackson’s New Zealand-based WETA Digital produced a 20-minute test reel.
“Herge’s characters have been reborn as living beings, expressing emotion and a soul which goes far beyond anything we’ve seen to date with computer animated characters,” Spielberg said. “We want Tintin’s adventures to have the reality of a live-action film, and yet Peter and I felt that shooting them in a traditional live-action format would simply not honor the distinctive look of the characters and world that Herge created.”
I’m still not quite sure what Spielberg sees in the series (although I must admit, I’ve only seen a few strips. The director has said that the series somewhat inspired the Indiana Jones films. And with 23 volumes of stories, I’m sure there must be at least three great stories to tell.
May 15th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Why are you asking why? You admit not knowing the stories so why not trust Spielberg and Jackson? I’m excited beyond belief that they’re doing it.
May 16th, 2007 at 12:26 am
I’m a big comics fan, and although I’m not that big a fan of Tintin, like many belgian children I grew up with Hergés comics.
It’s very obvious why Spielberg and Jackson want to do this. There’s a strong, young, selfless hero (although some of the very early comics are very controversial and inspired by colonialist ideas), there are a couple of interesting sidekicks (some funny, some not so much) and most of all, the stories are very compelling adventures set around the globe with a clear right/wrong moral motif to them. So all in all, they should make for at least a few interesting movies. I just hope they don’t put too many comics into a single movie (there are plenty 2-part stories that have enough content for a movie)
July 13th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
If Steven can realise the entire book/s into film without seemingly rushing and omitting some vital content such as the more recent tintin dvd’s have done, the world may be in for yet another phenomenon such as Mr.Potter and Co….Tintin and all his companions are a truly remarkable unique ensemble. A change from the usual violence and rediculous blood baths in modern movies, particularly kid’s films, would be a refreshing change and Herge’s stories brought to true life will I’m sure, be enormously welcomed…………. PS..a very humungus thankyou to Mr. Spielberg for recognising the brilliance and potential in Tintin.