The world-famous author and screen-writer will be writing the script for Tintin 2! This is absolutely wonderful news for those who are fans of his popular ”Alex Rider” series (me included). Anthony Horowitz is a wonderful storyteller and a master at keeping the reader interested. His own stories are full of adventure, and in the case of Alex Rider, also center around the action packed life of a teenager. He is also very experienced and is known for putting tons of research into his work. He focuses on the details,and that’s good news for a Tintin fan. Here we have the info straight from the horse’s mouth, while speaking on Richard Bacon’s radio 5 talk show:

I’m working in Hollywood at the moment, I’m writing a feature film even as we speak. I’ve been hired to write Tintin…

The Secret of the Unicorn is being directed by Steven Spielberg and was written originally bySteven Moffat, of course the writer of Doctor Who in this country. He did a couple of drafts then it was taken over by Edgar Wright… they’ve got [that] coming out at Christmas and if that film is a success and works and gets an audience I’m writing the sequel to it, Prisoners of the Sun, which Peter Jackson is going to direct.

So the story of Tintin 2 has officially been chosen. We had heard rumors, especially from Peter, but this had not been confirmed until now.

Although I’ll admit that I was really hoping for ”The Calculus affair”, ”Prisoners of the Sun” is a great choice. Just like ”Secret of the Unicorn” it is a two-part series, and even among Hergé’ s other books it is considered to be a masterpiece. The story revolves around a mysterious ”curse” that puts 7 explorers into the hospital after their return from investigating some ruins in Peru and bringing artifacts back, among them an inca mummy.  One by one the explorers fall into a strange coma, and then Professor Calculus is kidnapped. Tintin and Haddock try to solve the mystery of the curse from the start, and then set off to save Calculus as well.

The book shows us just how far Tintin and Haddock will go to save a friend. They risk everything as they go through one adventure after another on their quest. In one part their train car is disconnected from the rest of the train and they slide down the mountains with no way of stopping their car. In another,they have to sneak onto a ship that says it is under quarantine with armed men on board. In the jungle they face vicious condors and crocodiles. Then they have to cross over a raging waterfall. And to top it all off, they stumble onto a secret hiding place where it turns out the ancient Incan people are still alive, where the whole gang is condemned to die at the stake, lit by the very power of the sun. It is not hard to see why this adventure was chosen to be adapted to the big screen. And I can’t think of a better person for the job to be writing the script than Anthony Horowitz.

For those of you wondering how this will tie in with ”Red Rackham’s Treasure” being the second movie (or at least the beginning of it), I’m not sure how it will play out.  It looks like they will introduce Calculus at the beginning of the movie and then kidnap him almost right afterwards. Just how much of Red Rackham’s Treasure, if any, will be in the movie? We will see. All we know is that Calculus HAS to be in Tintin 2,and we do not believe he is in Tintin 1 because he has not been cast. I think they will either tie in Red Rackham’s treasure at the very beginning of the film like they are doing with The Crab with the Golden Claws for the first movie, or take Calculus out of the ending of The Secret of The Unicorn-Red Rackham’s Treasure for Tintin 1 and have them find the treasure in the basement, then introduce him for Tintin 2 at the start of the film.  However they do it,  I’m sure they know how much the fans love Calculus and will make sure we have plenty of time to see him in the movie.

Very special thanks to Britto and Pro-man who found this information!!! I really appreciate it! Keep up the excellent work!

Sources: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/04/08/anthony-horowitz-confirms-his-involvement-in-tintin/

Photo: http://www.kjoek.nl/schrijvers.php?schrijversid=dfef2f3cc4480f5c43a

In a recent interview with Michael Kahn,the man in charge or editing ”Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn”, Michael informed us that the Tintin Movie will be edited ”just like any other film”. Michael has been editing for Spielberg since ”Close Encounters of the Third Kind” in 1976 and this year celebrates his 75th birthday. He has edited such action packed classics as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park,and Saving Private Ryan.

The Tintin movie is the first movie Michael has ever edited for Spielberg using Avid (a digital way to edit movies) instead of the Moviola, an old fashion tool used to edit movies invented way back in 1924. But Michael assures us that the editing process of the movie is still the same. He said the videos still needed a few touch ups in the background and such since the shots themselves weren’t finished, but that would not affect the actual editing of the movie. The Tintin Movie will be put together just like any other film would.

Right now you might be asking yourself  ”So what? Why wouldn’t it be?” But actually this is important. Although there are now many more 3D movies then there were even just a few years back,it is still not uncommon to see movies where the directors constantly try to impress the audience by throwing things out of the screen…especially in films created by computer.  Granted the effect is a lot of fun,but not if it slows down the story of the movie. But when it comes to Tintin not only are the directors directing the movie like they would any other film, but even the editing process is the same as other Spielberg films. Not only can we have faith that Spielberg will not tie up the story of the Tintin Movie because he,for instance,keeps shooting the Unicorn’s cannonballs at the screen or something like that (that would be completely out of character for him). We can even have faith that Kahn will make decisions on what seconds of the movie to keep or get rid of based on what is best for the story and flow of the movie and what Spielberg has always expected from him, not on what ”looks cool in 3D”. Both men are professionals with many many years of experience. We could not have hoped for a better crew working on this movie.

I enjoy editing home videos and such things in my spare time and I know that editing is a very precise and time consuming job. I admit I had never heard of Michael Kahn before,but I now have a respect towards him and anybody else who has been editing such great work for so many years. He certainly deserves it. Special thanks to Proman for finding this information,and to all of you who find leads and videos. Keep up the good work!

Sources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjdOG-w0Zz4

picture found on http://www.edgarwrighthere.com/2011/02/21/michael-kahns-ace-lifetime-achievement-award-tribute-reel/

It’s not surprising with his big role in The Eagle and Tintin being the most anticipated of his next upcoming films that multiple reporters would interview Jamie Bell on Tintin. The following is the third interview I’ve found that has a section on his role in The Secret of The Unicorn. Some of this will sound similar to the other two interviews and there is almost no new information,but it’s fun to read none the less. The most interesting thing for me is the part at the end where he talks about Tintin’s voice.

Let’s talk about Tintin. Obviously, Spielberg is a director who’s in total command of his form, but here, he was working with technology he’s never used before. Could you see him figuring it out on set?
Oh, absolutely. He’d be like, “What does this do? Oh wow, it does that? I wish I could do that in the real world, I wish I could take out a lamppost and move it to the side of the street!” The simplistic things about motion capture that you can do with just the flick of a button are kind of amazing, but also, the use of light and color … for a filmmaker who’s incredibly visionary, I think it’s exciting because it gives him so many more options. The palette is endless, it’s infinite, and I think he definitely got a kick out of that. I think he said it made him more like a painter than he’d ever been before.

The look of the film is very painterly, just from the stills that have been released. Have you seen it in motion?
I’ve seen bits and pieces, yeah. It looks great. We call them “Tintin-ologists,” and as one of those people who’s really into it, it’s incredibly exciting. To see these characters come to life is something you’ve been waiting for your whole life, and when it’s you doing it … It’s actually got the vibe of a Hitchcockian film, a kind of noir film in a young person’s action-adventure film. It’s really great.

I’m assuming your friend Andy Serkis gave you advice on motion capture.
On everything. He’s the guru of that technology.

What’s the key thing you need to know if you’re doing it?
Just to overarticulate. He calls it “breaking through the technology,” and I like that idea because it means that you break through it and claim it for yourself. You don’t let it do the work for you, you attack it aggressively and control it. Look, if there’s anyone to listen to when it comes to motion capture, it’s that guy, so to have him next to me throughout felt great.

How do you know if you’re doing a good job?
You don’t. You trust your director, and I obviously have a great trust with Steven Spielberg. You’re in really good hands. There are some very specific beats with an action-adventure film, and you have to hit those moments of “I found a clue!” where you’re about to go into another adventure in the story. So the acting is still kind of the same, you’re still hitting these beats and those emotional peaks and lows. And you have to trust your animators, because that’s where the real work is done.

What’s your Tintin voice like?
Tintin is a native of Belgium, and we obviously couldn’t do it in French, although I would have loved to. So we kind of found an English sound that won’t distract people so much. You know, it’s very easy to upset people quickly when you’re taking on such a beloved character, so we want to remain as neutral as possible and not go too, too strongly in another direction. If Tintin had an American accent, I’m sure the rest of the world would be very upset!

In my last post I went into detail on the longest of two interviews with Jamie Bell,the well known actor cast as Tintin. Here I will review the second. There is no video of this one,and I am assuming there is more than I can find here but I haven’t found it yet. There is not too much I can say that isn’t stated there already,but there are a few thing’s worth mentioning and quotes from Jamie.

When Jamie Bell was approached with the project he was skeptical and clearly hadn’t worked with this technology before:

“What is it? That was my first thing initially. What is it? How do you do it? What does it require? How does it work? Does it even work? Let me see some evidence of it working. I watched some of those motion capture films, which were very early and primitive in terms of the technology. All props to Robert Zimeckis  for kind of spearheading the industry in saying that this is something we need to take note of.”

This quote is the biggest news from me. When he later talked about his first experience with motion capture he confirmed that he is a real fan of Tintin, as well as the fact that the new technology wound up being no problem at all:

“I knew everything about Tintin. I was already a Tintinophile or Tintinologist. I was very into that so it was literally trying to understand the mechanics of the technology. You want me to stand in a gray room and act as though I’m in a sea plane in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of the Sahara desert with nothing around me that informs anything about this character’s journey? Anything about anything in the physical world? That’s great because it just means that I can make it all up!”

That information complements the info from my previous post.  If any of us had any doubt about Jamie Bell,we shouldn’t now. He is a very good actor. But most important to me he is not going to do what many actors try and do in book or comic book based movies: try and put their own spin on a traditional character. That was one of my greatest fears about the Tintin movie. It’s one thing to take a character like Willy Wonka and twist him into something else or remake another Jane Eyre,but if such were ever attempted with Tintin the results would be disastrous. But Jamie Bell gives every indication that he did and will do his best to stay as true to the character as possible and to live up to Hergé’s work. That’s great news for all true Tintin fans!

Another possible issue was whether Tintin will appear to American audiences. I happen to be an American myself and I’ve asked myself this many times. A few people like my father knew about Tintin,but in general most people in the USA have never heard of him or confuse him with Rin tin tin. If the movie doesn’t go over well in the US that will definitely affect the final grossing and although this has no real source it might even affect the making of the sequels. This subject came up with Jamie as well:

“I think anyone who understands and appreciates Indiana Jones, understands Tintin and they don’t even know what it is yet. I feel like it’s not going to be difficult. I think the characters are great because they all have human flaws. The Tintin character is a very driven and ambitious guy. The structure of the story and the adventure is something we all know and love. There’s something at the end and they’ve got to get to it. There’s a very bizarre and quirky and exciting relationship in the center of it between these two guys. And there’s Steven Spielberg at the helm, who does this story incredibly well.”

The other day I heard somebody who had never heard of Tintin say that ”Tintin:the secret of the unicorn” was a funny sounding title. Had I not read the book or recognized the character,I probably would agree. But I think Jamie is right. The character’s are wonderful,the story is both entertaining and action packed,and I’m sure the huge amount of advertising that will be put out will get the American’s past the funny title. They may even see it just because Spielberg and Jackson made it.  That would be too bad if that were the only reason,but hopefully that will get Americans to know and love Tintin. As for myself,I can’t wait to see it and continue to wait anxiously for it’s premiere. These last two interviews are just two more reasons to look forward to opening night.

A very quick update as I’m away for a long weekend in couple minutes.

The Empire magazine December issue has Tintin on the front, the two stills we have already seen plus an image of Tintin, Haddock & co in the desert (from Crab with the Golden Claws), an image of the Thompsons with Silk (the thief from Unicorn) and Tintin greeting Barnaby (who I cannot place off the top of my head). Additionally there are several behind the scenes photos and six pages of articles.

First impressions of the new images pretty much my reaction to the first two – parts of them look great (the Thompsons in particular) but the figures of Tintin, Haddock and Snowy in the desert look off somehow. Their shape or stances is just a little too cartoony for my taste.

Once I’ve had some time to read and digest the images over the weekend I’ll post more detailed thoughts. In the meantime, if you spot these images on the web, post the links in the comments below so that fans around the world can also see them.

Back soon, have a great weekend.

The first two stills for Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, have been released.

An iconic scene from The Crab with the Golden Claws

Is this Tintin meeting Haddock for the first time?

Both images have been revealed by Empire Magazine and the December issue (available 4th November) will have more comments and news from the cast. Including this:

So what can we expect from the story? Here’s what Spielberg told us. “The first part of the film, which is the most mysterious part, certainly owes much to not only film noir but the whole German Brechtian theatre — some of our night scenes and our action scenes are very contrasty. But at the same time the movie is a hell of an adventure.”

The images follow a weekend-long teaser that slowly released close-ups of their cover. A full version of which is now available.

This image was specially created for the magazine and is not from the film.

All images are copyright to someone, though who the hell knows because Empire doesn’t say. So please credit Empire magazine if you reproduce them.

In what can only be described as a teaser campaign, Empire magazine has tiny, close up fragments of the first images from the Tintin movie.

They seem to be releasing one a day. every few hours. The first five six are up and there are space for seven more. So we can expect the first full images on the 8th of November or there about Monday.

The best guess for what the images show:

• ???
• Snowy’s Fur
• ???
• Tintin’s Jumper
• A Sock

What Does This Tell Us

Not a lot except that the movie will use incredibly real looking textures. Which suggests there will be nothing cartoony about this animation. I expect to see a world that has Herge’s distinctive style but with an amazing level of detail.

It looks like the long wait for the first images will be worth it.

EDIT…

Sharp eyed Proman has spotted that they are going up faster than one a day and that new objects are added to the background images. See comments for more details.

A poster appeared on the Collider web site last week claiming to be the first poster for the Tintin Movie.There was a lot of speculation regarding its authenticity because of the way it had surfaced and because it just used Herge’s artwork.

However, Paramount have asked Collider to take down the poster, strongly suggesting it was the real thing.

Obviously, the poster is copyright and it would be wrong for us to show it, thought it is freely available around the web.

Just in case Paramount have taken those two links down by the time you read this, you can assemble it yourself. Just imagine this logo:

Above an image by Herge, like this one:

And that’s about it.

Thanks Proman for spotting it originally, Britto for his observations and and Tom for noticing its disappearance.

Total Film’s web site has a feature entitled The Adventures Of Tintin: Everything We Know. It is a recap of how Spielberg acquired the rights, the problems of financing, the cast and working with Peter Jackson.

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.

In promoting their 2011 releases, Paramount and Sony have given us a sneak peak of the Tintin movie logo.

Source: New Movie Logos for MIIIB 3D, Spider-man 3D, Mission Impossible 4 and More (Thanks Proman!).