Tintin Films in the Works!

WOOHOO!! This makes me so happy that I am actually sitting in my chair at work and clapping with glee. Clapping. With glee. When's the last time I did that?? I was thrilled -- thrilled -- when I heard that Peter Jackson was going to direct. I know he's an Oscar® winner for the Lord of the Rings trilogy (and deservedly so), but I'm a fan of his smaller scale Heavenly Creatures [and db loves The Frighteners, ha], and I know he'll do Tintin right.

I grew up reading Tintin and wishing I could travel the whole world like him -- and be brave enough to survive hair-raising adventures in the Congo and remote China and Mt. Everest. Happy memories. And thankfully, I haven't read them in a long time so they haven't been ruined for me by, say, recognizing a neo-imperialist undercurrent in the narrative (as Babar was ruined for me in college). I did notice, of course, that there were no grrls.

As I mentioned before, Tintin and I have a few things in common.

Tintin Travels to Tinseltown | TIME.

He may be fictional, he may have emerged from comic books, but for many, Tintin is an inspirational adventurer for all time. And now, Belgium's greatest hero is set for the ultimate escapade, as two of Hollywood's biggest names, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, have announced plans for three back-to-back features based on his stories.

The films, for Spielberg's DreamWorks studio, will be produced in full digital 3-D using performance-capture technology, which takes points of reference from real life subjects and transfers them to animated characters on the screen. Spielberg and Jackson will each direct at least one movie; there is no word yet on who will helm the third.

The timing could not have been more apt: Tintin's creator, Hergé, was born one hundred years ago on Tuesday. Many credit Hergé, whose real name was Georges Remi, with inventing much of the visual grammar that defines modern comics. His books involve masterly plots and a depth of humor, artistry, detail and characterization. His iconic comic strip hero travelled the world fighting crime and ventured to the moon a full decade before Neil Armstrong.

For an insight into Herge and the Tintin legacy, the documentary film "Tintin and I" is well worth seeing. I only wish it had been longer.

And literally just arrived in my mailbox: the new NY'er, containing an article by Anthony Lane titled "A Boy's World: The Tintin Century."

Comments

[David]

ae, I've led a sheltered life and did not know of Tintin.

Oh, and the rash from kissing the Dingo? I don't think that was poison ivy she was rolling in!

[arse poetica]

David, that is so gross! =D And I'd say you were right, but our backyard has more than a little bit of poison ivy, I'm sad to report. Aw hell, I'm sure it's a psychosomatic allergic reaction to an overabundance of Bush/Cheney criminal activity.

Check out some of the Tintin books if you can. The richness of detail in the drawings is what I really remember. Plus, they really do make you want to travel the world that much more.

[Ken]

Oh, I loved Tintin growing up. But part of me doesn't want to hear someone else's voice in his character, because I've always heard him inside my head. To hear an actor's voice will be weird for me.

[arse poetica]

Good point, Ken! But I think I saw a Tintin cartoon once, and he had a sort of high-pitched voice and perpetually urgent tone, and that's kind of how I "hear" him now. Dammit, I hope they don't ruin it w/ some tough guy stuff. He needs to sound young and earnest, as far as I'm concerned.