There is no new information but there is some confusing / wrong information.

On the script Total Film says “The first draft was knocked up by Coupling writer Stephen Moffat, only for him to turn his back on the project”. This is not entirely true – The script was complete but Moffat was prevented from working on the script for the second film because of the writers strike in America. By the time that finished, he had been offered a chance to fulfill a life long ambition to write for Dr Who.

See Moffat Walked Away From Tintin and Moffat Denies Quitting Tintin for our original coverage. Note also how Total Film report that Moffat walked away from $2 million yet the original newspaper reports it was £500,000. A great example of the guesswork and the constant inflation inherent in the game of chinese whispers that is reporting on Hollywood.

Total Film go on to give credit to Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish for the bulk of the script writing duties where as the original press release gives them equal credit and the info at the time suggested this was just minor changes to Moffat’s script. However Total Film go on to say:

“….have condensed events from three of Hergé’s stories (The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure) in order to introduce the major characters ….”

This is (probably) wrong.

Comments from Spielberg have previously put the first film as covering The Crab and events up to the end of Unicorn. Also Professor Calculus has never appeared on any cast list and Red Rackham’s Treasure would be unthinkable without Calculus and the shark submergible.

“There will be no cell phones, no TV sets, no modern cars. Just timeless Europe.” – Steven Spielberg

Le Monde magazine interviewed Steven Spielberg about his work on Tintin. The interview was presumably done in English and translated to French for publication and I’m translating it back into English via Google so the wording may not be spot on. However, the meaning is clear, the Tintin movie will not be some hideously re-imagining of Tintin. Spielberg goes on to say.

“Peter Jackson and I have the opportunity to honor the art of Hergé, his tone, his palette, his characters.” He denies [The translation is garbled here, possibly "to amend the famous Tintin tuft"?] He added: “The body language is very important. There is no question of touching it. We religiously respect the art of Hergé.”

From this interview, it certainly sounds like the Tintin movie will stick closely to the classic Tintin look-and-feel though they have previously described it as “film noir”. We may have a better idea in the new year as Peter Jackson has previously indicated that the first images of the CGI will be released in January.

Also due in January is an announcement on Peter Jackson’s choice of books for his film or films. The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun are widely tipped as favourites.

Source: Steven Spielberg révèle ses secrets pour adapter Tintin au cinéma (via Spielberg, Jackson Talk More “Tintin”).

I have to confess that my French is almost non-existent so I have no idea what he is saying. So here is a sample of Gad Elmaleh in English.

The Highland Literacy Reading Blog is a blog about books, which is great but nothing special. Except that this blog is written by children of the Highland region of Scotland and is run the by Highland education department. Children all over the highlands of Scotland can read a book and then, with the help of a teacher, write a review and publish it for friends, family and the world to see.

Not only does this encourage children to read books but it also encourages them write and think about the books. Exactly the sort of activities we want, we need, children to be doing. It is also a great way for children to discover new books they might like. Something that is becoming increasingly hard as libraries and independent book stores continue to close.

The blog is supported by Borders book store in Inverness which is a shrewd investment by the company. They offer book tokens for the best reviews and a 10% off coupon.

The range of books reviewed is excellent. From the Horrible History series through Tintin and on to The Diary of Anne Frank. The reviews themselves are excellent because they miss out all the rubbish an adult would put in the review and instead focus on what is important. Such as this review of Fledge Star by Titania Woods.

I didn’t really like this book because I am not into fairies. People who like fairies and mythical creatures would like this book more than I did. It was easy to understand, it was set in a tree which some people might quite like. I’m glad I read this book because I can now recommend it to other people.

And here is the review for The Crab with a Golden Claw.

It is  very funny.  The captain always gets drunk:) It is  never boring I always enjoyed reading it.  I have read 5 before TinTin is sooooo funny. At the start  snowy (his dog) is trying to get something to eat.  Snowy gets a tin with A CRAB WITH GOLDEN CLAWS and almost gets cut.      i think it is one on the best TinTin books  in the series.  10 OUT OF 10.

I think every school district should have a web site like the Highland Literacy Reading Blog. Congratulations to everyone involved in setting it up and keeping it going.

I’m currently orchestrating a large piece with a number of ideas. The main theme is highly energetic, filled with great tonal twists and turns, reflecting, I suspect, Tintin’s heroic energy. It will become a classic, I think. To give more information would be to reveal things that I don’t think JW would want to say.


We are at the beginning of the process. The main scoring sessions are off in February.

Source: Williams Orchestrator Talks ‘Tintin’ Score via Trilha sonora de Tintim pode se tornar um clássico and La musique du prochain film Tintin.

Lieutenant Delcourt, the commander of the Afghar desert fort in The Crab with the Golden Claws is being played by scottish actor Tony Curran. The red-hair Glaswegian has a number of very minor roles under his belt but was first noticable in Underworld: Evolution and in the last year or so, he has been landing more significant roles.

“Steven was great. The first thing he said to me was: ‘All this motion capture work is new to me as well, so let’s have some fun with it’.”

Along with Bell, who plays the bequiffed Belgian adventurer, and Craig, in the role of villain Red Rackham, Andy Serkis – who shot to fame as Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings – stars as the whisky- swilling sidekick Captain Haddock in the first of atrilogy of Tintin movies, due for release in 2011.

And Curran admitted the English actor’s experience in performancecapture filming was a valuable asset.

He said: “Andy’s role in the Rings movies was pretty ground- breaking and he also did King Kong. He’s been around the block a few times with motion capture and that certainly helped the rest of us.

“The film will use the movements, expressions and the voices of the actors, but in an authentic, animated form.

“I think that was important for Steven and Peter as they wanted to stay true to the comic-book style of Herge’s original Tintin stories.”

Source: Scots Actor Lands Dream Role in Big Screen Version of Comic Classic

You Tube: Tony Curran in Underworld Evolution and a couple of fan videos – My Immortal Tony, Tony Curran Does He ….. ?

Gad Elmaleh, a Moroccan who has achieved success by doing one man shows and very well received French language films is to play Omar Ben Salaad. Interestingly, Salaad only appears in The Crab with the Golden Claw so it looks like the film is going to weave several stories together.

Before the film title was announced I speculated that The Crab with the Golden Claws would be the first film because it introduces Captain Haddock. The appearance of Salaad suggests that the film will cover Tintin meeting Haddock and then discovering the Unicorn’s treasure. This would form a good story arc but leaves a lot to fit in one film.

The other bit of casting news is that Toby Jones, best known as Dobby the House Elf from the Harry Potter films, will be playing the pickpocket Aristides Silk who appears in The Secret of the Unicorn.

Source: Anchors aweigh for ‘Tintin’

It is all in French, which I don’t speak, but I suspect there are some clever jokes in it. However it is still remarkably recognisable as The Crab with the Golden Claws. Well worth a watch.

Note: I found this on the Facebook group: The Adventures of Tintin. There is also a Tintin group and a Don’t Let Dreamworks Ruin Tintin group.

We predicted this back in October last year based on the cast list. However there are a few oddities. The original casting list included characters from The Crab with the Golden Claw and Eric Stoltz has been cast as Dr Krollspell who appears in Flight 714.

Basing the first Tintin movie on the Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure makes a lot of sense. They are good, solid adventure stories with a straight forward plot that has a lot in common with Indiana Jones adventures. They also introduce Professor Calculus and by the end of it, Captain Haddock has Marlinspike manor.

Source: Details released about first Tintin movie

The Yeti from Tintin in Tibet always stood out to me as a character. Unlike other characters from the books, the Yeti isn’t motivated by money or power. He’s not a spy, a criminal, a freedom fighter or a repressed minority. He is driven by real emotion to rescue and tend the injured Chang. The Yeti’s loneliness when Chang is taken away by Tintin has real pathos.

Naturally a blog called I Love the Yeti caught my eye. Its looking are the changing face of the Yeti over the years and is best summed up in the post Yeti in Popular Culture and Tintin of course gets a mention.