Monthly Archives: January 2009

Oh. My. God. My man Daniel Craig is playing Red Rackham. This is a happy day indeed…

Jamie Bell and Daniel Craig Join Tintin! 
Source: Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment

Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment today announced the start of principal photography on the 3D motion capture feature The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Jamie Bell and Daniel Craig. The full press release: 

Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment have announced the start of principal production in Los Angeles on the 3D Motion Capture Film “The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn,” directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Jamie Bell (“Billy Elliot,” “Defiance”) as Tintin, the intrepid young reporter whose relentless pursuit of a good story thrusts him into a world of high adventure, and Daniel Craig (“Quantum of Solace,” “Defiance”) as the nefarious Red Rackham.

Bell and Craig are joined by an international cast that includes Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Gad Elmaleh, Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook.

“The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn,” from a screenplay by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, is produced by Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy, is the first in the series of 3D motion capture films based on the iconic character created by Georges Remi, better known to the world by his pen name “Herge” and is due for release in 2011. Executive producers are Nick Rodwell, Stephane Sperry and Ken Kamins. Paramount Pictures will release domestically and in all English speaking territories and Asia, excluding India. Sony Pictures Releasing International will distribute the film in Continental Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America, India and the remainder of the world.

The second feature in the series is scheduled to be directed by Jackson, with a potential for a third film as well.

Eighty years ago, Herge introduced the world to a unique cast of characters who have been embraced by readers of all ages. The Adventures of Tintin – a series of 24 books, the final unfinished adventure was published after Herge’s – death became Herge’s life’s work. The first adventure was published in 1929. Over 200 million copies have been sold worldwide. The popular series has been translated into 70 languages and still attracts thousands of new fans each year.

Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson will bring Herge’s stories to life employing state-of-the-art performance capture technology developed by Jackson’s Weta Digital.

I just found this incredible January 19, 2009 radio interview with THE Tintinologist, Michael Farr. Mr. Farr has written several books on Tintin including, Tintin: The Complete Companion, Tintin & Co., The Adventures of Hergé Creator of Tintin, among others. You can view many of his books on our site, ShopTintin.com.

Michael Farr discusses many aspects of Tintin and Hergé, including:

1. some of the more controversial aspects of Tintin in the Congo and The Shooting Star (he was not a bigot);
2. the extremely tired subject of Tintin’s sexual orientation (he is NOT homosexual); and
3. the movies by Spielberg and Jackson (very promising).

The interview can be found here. You can listen to the entire podcast or you can fast-forward to just a little past the half-way point to get to the interview with Farr.

There is also a print article on the CBC published on the same date. You can access that article here.