Tintin script-writer Steven Moffat has finished the script and is ready to move on to his next job, writing Dr Who. Moffat is a fantastic writer, his comedy Coupling is one of my all time favourites and about the only sitcom I have ever watched. He has also written some of the best Dr Who episodes ever, including the truly scary Blink, and is to become chief writer for the 2010 series of Dr Who.

Its not clear if Steven Moffat has written just one or all three scripts. The article (see below) says its just the first film but the article also says that Thomas Sangster will definitely star so it might be lazy journalism. If the films are being filmed back-to-back-to-back then I would expect them to have scripts already for the second and third films, or at least rough drafts.

Personally I really hope that Steven Moffat has done all three films. I’m concerned about how sensitively the directors (particularly Spielberg ) will handle the source material. But if Moffat has written all three Tintin movies, then I can be sure at least that the scripts will be in tune with Herge’s orginals.

Source: Moffat replaces Russell T on Doctor Who

A horse called Tintin In America won a race and beat the course time. I only mention this because I thought pedigree horses could not use copyrighted names and because I would of called the horse The Shooting Star.

From: Tintin In America gets the job done

The Pompidou Centre in Paris has accepted a Tintin strip to be part of its permanent collection. The first comic strip to be included in the gallery.

An original black and white strip, signed by Tintin’s Belgian creator Herge and donated by his widow Fanny Rodwell, comes from the 1956 story, The Calculus Affair, the 18th of the Tintin adventures.

Pompidou contemporary art museum curator Benoit Peers said that the donation could lead the way for the acquisition of more comic strips.

“One can say that Herge remains a pioneer and that Tintin, once again, has shown the way.” he told Le Figaro.

From: Tintin enters Pompidou Centre’s modern art collection in Paris

This is the page in question, I believe, though in black & white and presumably in French.

Charles Burns, one of the most disturbing comic artists / illustrators has a portfolio of work out by United Dead Artists that includes this familiar image:

For comparison I thought I would put up the original image and I was amazed at how close Charles Burns’ version is to the original. Try comparing the locations of the rocks. I then noticed something about The Shooting Star. The cover is a redrawn version of one of the panels.

The Shooting Star Cover Art Work

Final Panel of Page 51

It makes sense for the artwork to be redrawn for the cover but my surprise is a naiveté left over from my childhood when I would look through the books finding the frame they had used for the cover. One more precious childhood memory destroyed by the bitter reality of adulthood.

Belgian prime minister Yves Leterme, famous for his quiffed hair and Tintinesque earnestness (and lack of humor), is on adventure in South-America. – Vincent Rif via The Ephemerist.

Nice to see that the iconic Tintin is still a strong cultural reference in Belgium. I wonder if this cartoonist will get sued like Bill Leak did for his image of Aussie premier Kevin Rudd as Tintin (below)

Marketsaw is reporting that all three Tintin films will be shot back to back with Jackson & Spielberg directing the last one together.: Spielberg Reveals He And Jackson Will Probably Co-Direct Third “Tintin”: Shot Back To Back To Back !

Thomas Sangster who has been heavily rumoured to be playing Tintin in the movie still hasn’t been confirmed in that role. In the meantime he will be off to South Africa to film “Master Harold… and the Boys” with Danny Glover. Shooting will start in July and shooting for Tintin is scheduled to start in September.

This might all dovetail nicely for Thomas, allowing him to finish in South Africa and fly straight to New Zealand to start on the Tintin Movie. Or it may mean that Sangster will be unavailable for Tintin. Until Spielberg and Jackson confirm the cast, we can only speculate.

Source: Danny Glover returns to ‘Boys’

Back in March we said that Spielberg would start directing the first Tintin Movie in September. Now it appears that the mainstream press has caught up with us thanks to the great-one’s current media blitz for Indiana Jones.

Only one thing of interest has come out about the Tintin movie, Spielberg claims that it won’t be effected by an actor’s strike because its using motion capture technology. I wonder what union Andy Serkis belongs to then?

Source: Spielberg’s Lincoln Logged

VFX World have a long article on The Virtual Rebirth of Cinema examining the background an technology of films such a Beowulf and the Tintin Movies.

The dawn of a new “virtual filmmaking” age is upon us. Sparked by the pioneering work of Bob Zemeckis on The Polar Express and Beowulf and amped to the extreme to create a realtime director-centric workflow by James Cameron, Rob Legato and team for the upcoming Avatar, this new evolution of the filmmaking process is energizing the Hollywood industry. Having worked on a couple of these bleeding-edge film projects (Avatar, Tintin) with many of the industry’s’ leading filmmakers, artists and technicians has allowed me to witness and contribute to the development of this new virtual filmmaking system that will likely lead the moviemaking process over the coming decades. The virtual filmmaking process is an amalgamation of traditional filmmaking, CGI, visual effects pipelines, previs workflows and realtime computer gaming technology. Virtual filmmaking combines the best parts of all of these previous traditions in a unique way to create something immensely useful and creatively liberating for the director and other artistic team members. Although I can’t elaborate on the specifics of any one system, I’d like to briefly touch on the technological progression toward the virtual filmmaking revolution in general and point out some of the innovations of this new system.

Check out Gazpachot’s blog for surreal imagery including this Tintin / Titanic comparison.

Meanwhile, On Jon’s Random Acts of Geekery, he has a a guide to drawing Tintin.