Live action Tintin film reportedly on the way

via GIPHY

Live action Tintin film reportedly on the way

Just when I was recently lamenting the lack of a sequel to 2011's The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn from either Peter Jackson or Steven Spielberg along comes the news of a new Tintin film in the works - but not from the source, nor in the format, that one might expect.  

Tintin Live-Action Film Is in the Works, Won't Be Connected to Spielberg's Movie

source - IMDb

No, with the promise of a follow-up to Secret of the Unicorn still not forthcoming from either Mr Jackson or Mr Spielberg the door has potentially been left open for a new production (or a "reboot", to use the modern parlance).  Through that door, according to the accompanying articles, may come the little-known (outside of France) director Patrice Leconte and his plans for a live-action Tintin film - the first time such an undertaking has been mooted since Tintin and the Blue Oranges was released nearly 60 years ago in 1964.

source - IMDb

That film was in fact the second of a planned trilogy of live-action Tintin stories, beginning with 1961's Tintin and the Golden Fleece.  Both films had original storylines not featured in any of the books but featured all the main characters including Tintin, Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, Thomson & Thompson and of course Snowy(!).  The title character was played by a young (then aged only seventeen) unknown Belgian Jean-Pierre Talbot who, while working as a sports instructor on an Ostend beach, had been spotted by a talent scout who noticed the useful resemblance to the boy reporter.  Introduced to the great Hergé himself the two quickly became firm friends and Talbot's role was assured (although this was to be his only foray into acting; after The Blue Oranges he returned to relative obscurity and later became a teacher.  Now aged 77 and retired, he still lives in his home town of Spa).  He was the only actor to play the same character across both films, with Captain Haddock being portrayed by Georges Wilson in The Golden Fleece and Jean Bouise in The Blue Oranges.  Professor Calculus likewise was played by Georges Loriot in the first film and by Félix Fernández in the second.  Some confusion still surrounds the actor(s) who played Thomson & Thompson in the first film as they were only listed in the credits as "Incognito", while IMDb would have us believe they were both played by the same man - the mysteriously-named "Gamonal" (although there is some suggestion that they may have been Les Frères Gamonal (i.e. the brothers Gamonal).  Certainly they appear to be two separate actors in the film.)  In the case of each movie all the supporting actors were made-up to some extent so as to better approximate the look of their characters while still retaining the live-action æsthetic - the success (or otherwise) of which I will leave for you to decide, both films being currently available on YouTube here and here.

source - IMDb

The Golden Fleece sees Captain Haddock inherit a ship (the Golden Fleece of the title) from a recently deceased friend, which soon leads to all sorts of adventure in the search for lost treasure (so although ostensibly a stand-alone plot it does seem have been inspired by the two-parter stories The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure).  Following that movie's success the second film, The Blue Oranges, was released three years later and - in an adventure that definitely owes nothing to the books - sees our heroes come to the aid of Professor Calculus and his friend who have hit upon an invention to cure world hunger, which needless to say soon attracts the attention of some villainous types!  A third film was to have been made for release in 1967 but due to the less than positive reviews of The Blue Oranges it was cancelled and so these two cinematic oddities remain for now the only attempts at a live-action Tintin movie.

source - IMDb

Live-action Tintin movie in development

source - Wikipædia

Until now, that is, with the exciting news that veteran French director Patrice Leconte has expressed an interest in producing just such a film - this time to be based on one of the actual books, namely The Castafiore Emerald.  Intriguingly this particular story would be very much a set-bound piece, taking place exclusively at Marlinspike Hall - the home of Captain Haddock - and is essentially more of a "who-dunnit" rather than an out-and-out adventure.  How successful that will prove to be remains to be seen (the book itself, a later release published in 1963, was not well-received on account of Hergé breaking with the traditional adventure-style storyline for the first time), especially as M. Leconte is still in early negotiations with Paramount Pictures for the copyright which still lies with Spielberg (look man, if you're not going to do anything with it after nearly ten years at least give somebody else a chance!).  For this reason alone, thrilled though I am at the prospect of a new Tintin film and buoyed by M. Leconte's arthouse credentials (which includes stints as a comic strip writer), I don't hold out much hope for one seeing the light of day any time in the next few years.  I know from previous experience how long it takes for a film that has only just been tentatively announced and may not even be in pre-production to finally make it to our cinema screens and I expect that - if it hasn't died a death in the meantime - I'll still be blogging about its progress well into this decade.  Still, hope springs eternal and despite all this negativity it seems M. Leconte is confident enough to announce some degree of progress - having claimed production has started - although to what level is not clear - and the parts of Captain Haddock and Bianca Castafiore have already been cast.  I wish M. Leconte every success and will be keeping a close eye on this production in the profound hope that we Tintin fans will not be disappointed by a third director!

Leconte To Helm Live-Action “Tintin” Film?

As this looks likely to be a French-led production (although Paramount may well demand some input in return for the copyright and distribution rights) one imagines that the cast will probably be a largely European one, unknown outside the Continent - although perhaps with one or two big names to aid its popularity.  With that being the case and with M. Leconte allegedly having found his Captain Haddock and Bianca Castafiore, my own ideas on casting for a live-action Tintin film seem even more redundant than they did previously.  However I'm not a man to let that stop me so I will plough ahead and finish this post with my casting director's hat on and my thoughts and suggestions for actors and actresses to play the major roles in any forthcoming live-action production.

A Tintin Live-Action Movie is in Development

source - Wikimedia Commons / 
Gage Skidmore

The difficulty in finding an actor to portray Tintin is that they must by necessity be quite young - our hero is a "boy reporter" of only fifteen, don't forget - or still be possessed of petite, boyish looks despite being well into their twenties or older.  Think Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame, for instance - although I wouldn't necessarily choose him as I don't think he would have quite the right appearance even with make-up/ prosthetics.  In the case of a series of films this in turn leads to the problem of needing to anchor the character's age over the course of a short period of time in the story arc against the actor's natural aging process during the years of each film's production.  A classic example of this can be seen in the Spider-Man films, beginning with Sam Raimi's trilogy of 2002-07 starring Tobey Maguire, through Andrew Garfield's tenure in The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2, to the current incumbent Tom Holland (above).  The character of Peter Parker is in many ways similar to that of Tintin (barring the superhuman strength, ability to stick to walls and web-slinging skills, of course) - a teenage reporter/ photographer getting into all sorts of scrapes and adventures - and so requires the same sort of actor to pull the role off, hence the reason why there have been so many reboots of that particular franchise in little under twenty years.  I happen to rate Tom Holland very highly and for that reason, as well as his matching the criteria I mentioned above, I certainly think he could be an excellent Tintin.

Give him a quiff and you're all set.
source - Wikimedia Commons / 
Greg2600

My first choice for the part of Belgian's famous fictional son, though, would be one of Mr Holland's fellow young British actors - Asa Butterfield (left).  Perhaps best known for his breakthrough role in 2008's The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and as the eponymous Hugo in that excellent Thirties-set, Steampunkesque film, young Butterfield has for me just the right look about him for the character and has impressed me in everything I have seen him in.  Like Tom Holland I can see him keeping his fresh-faced appearance well into his thirties (both actors being in their mid-twenties now) which would hold him in good stead for any sequels.

sources - Wikipædia/
Gage Skidmore/
Eva Rinaldi

Having ummed and aahhed a bit my pick for Captain Haddock would come down to two established actors who I feel could really relish in the part.  The first is Kiefer Sutherland, who I feel is now of an age at and stage in his career where he could channel some of his father Donald's eccentricities into a challenging character like the good captain.  Just try and imagine him with a bushy black beard and see if you don't get what I mean.  The second - and again my top choice - would be Russell Crowe.  The gravelly voice, the stocky build, the intensity of his acting ability could all be brought to bear with great success in a more light-hearted role that would still test him.  (Honourable mention should also go to Andy Serkis, I feel, who voiced Captain Haddock in the 2011 Spielberg film.  He's very good at playing a broad range of characters and again with a full beard I could easily see him in the role.)

sources - IMDb/ Wikipædia/ Gage Skidmore

For Professor Calculus only one actor comes to mind - Sir Ben Kingsley.  Frankly, to use a modern expression, I think he would smash it out of the park and after Tintin his is probably the one part I would most like to see essayed.  Calculus is arguably the most difficult character to approximate, having such a unique look about him (he was modelled on the eccentric Swiss scientist and aeronaut Auguste Piccard - another subject for a standalone post, methinks!) so as well as being close in terms of looks and stature, requiring less make-up, I reckon Sir Ben's superb acting skills should be more than up to doing justice to the part. 

sources - Wikipædia/ Gage Skidmore/ iDominick

The characters of Thomson & Thompson are equally difficult to cast, I feel, not only for their distinctive appearance but also for the fact that they look identical despite not being twins (that being the joke).  So does one go with a pair of brother actors like the Wilsons (Owen, Luke and Andrew), the Hemsworths (Chris, Liam and Luke) or the McGanns (Stephen, Joe, Paul and Mark) or two unrelated chaps who resemble one another (and more so with the aid of make-up/ prosthetics)?  On balance I favour the latter option and in this instance I would stick with Simon Pegg, who played one half of the "Twins" with long-standing comedy partner Nick Frost in the 2011 film, but this time pair him with noted Welsh actor Michael Sheen.  Both actors have the comedy credentials to really bring the characters to life and I have a suspicion the two would really spark off each other in the roles.

sources - Wikipædia/ Garry Knight/ Diggies99

Two actresses again spring to mind as "The Milanese Nightingale", aka Bianca Castafiore and Captain Haddock's constant nuisance.  Top of the list would be Emma Thompson, whose great range includes a healthy dose of comedy and whimsy which could be brought to bear perfectly in the role.  Her ability to play character parts (e.g. Nanny McPhee) also makes her a shoo-in for this kind of portrayal I fancy.  Second choice would be Jennifer Saunders, who likewise has many of the same qualities and would be equally adept at applying them to the character of Señora Castafiore.

source - Pinterest

Alas I am not up to speed on my canine actors so dear old Snowy (or Milou in the original French), important though he may be, will regrettably have to be side-lined at least until a specialist doggy talent scout can come up with the goods, which it has to be admitted will be more difficult for a live-action production than a CGI or cartoon one.  Needless to say terriers, as with any other dog, can be trained to appear on TV and in film (I'm thinking in particular of "Eddie" in Frasier and "Jack" in The Artist) and I've no doubt a suitable contender could easily be found.  In the meantime, here's a picture of Tintin's faithful companion and the sort of dog (a wire-haired fox terrier) that could portray him.

Those, then, would be my choices for the main cast of a live-action Tintin flick (and if you're reading this, M. Leconte - no charge).  Regardless of who does play the roles of Tintin & Company I sincerely hope that this latest production has legs and makes a successful transition to the big screen sooner rather than later, bringing everyone's favourite boy reporter back into the limelight - maybe in time for his 100th birthday in 2029.  Bon chance, M. Leconte - I shall be watching the progress of this one with a great deal of interest.

***Would you look forward to a new live-action Tintin film?  What do you think of my Tintin & Co casting choices?  Who would you like to see have a go at essaying Hergé's colourful characters?  Let me know in the comments below!*** 

A Tintin video game in the works!

via GIPHY

A Tintin video game in the works!

Vintage subject matter with a modern twist in this post as everyone's favourite Belgian boy reporter Tintin, who recently turned 90 years old(!), is soon to get a new video game adventure to his name according to the above news article.

Details of what form the adventures will take are perforce sketchy as the news of tie-up between developer Microids and Tintin rights-holder Moulinsart has only just been announced but either way it sounds very promising.  "A whirlwind of incredible situations and suspense hand in hand with the legendary Tintin and Snowy...", along with all the supporting cast of characters we know and love - Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus and Thomson & Thompson - sounds just the sort of thing to keep our bequiffed hero in the forefront of people's minds and hopefully introduce him to a whole new generation of fans.

Video games are something I've tended to drift away from as I've got older but for Tintin & Company I'm bound to make an exception!  While researching for this post I discovered that this by no means the first computer game to feature Brussel's famous fictional son so I thought I'd take the opportunity of this news to go through the brief history of Tintin video games that have been produced thus far:



We begin way back in 1987, when Infogrames (a precursor to Atari) released Tintin on the Moon which was based on the two-part story-line Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon.  A mixture of traditional first-person shoot-em up and side-scrolling adventure the aim is to land the Moon Rocket on the Moon whilst avoiding all sorts of dangers including rogue asteroids and villainous stowaways.  It was available on all the major platforms of the day - Amiga, Amstrad, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum - and later, in 1989, was updated for use in MS-DOS.  Fans of 8-bit graphics and sound effects will not be disappointed!



The next Tintin game did not appear until 1995 when the story Tintin in Tibet was adapted, again by Infogrames, as a platform adventure for a variety of different consoles including Sega's Mega Drive and Game Gear as well as Nintendo's Super NES and Game Boy.  A year later in 1996 it became available for PC and then much later in 2001 was re-released for the Game Boy Colour.  The plot mirrors that of the book, in which Tintin and Captain Haddock travel to Tibet to rescue Tintin's Chinese friend Chang who is missing presumed dead following a plane crash.



Only one year was to elapse before another Tintin game was released when in 1997 Prisoners of the Sun came out as a companion piece to Tintin in Tibet.  It too was available for PCs as well as the SNES, Game Boy and later Game Boy Colour, but unlike the earlier game not for any Sega consoles.



Four years later in 2001 and Tintin was back again, this time for PC and Sony's new PlayStation console, in Destination Adventure.  Despite being designed (again by Infogrames) for the new generation of Windows computers and Sony consoles, Destination Adventure is essentially an update of Tibet and Prisoners of the Sun with some improved 3D graphics and a few new levels.



We have to fast-forward ten years for what is currently the most recent Tintin video game - The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.  Based on the 2011 film (as well as the original books) it is a reflection of how far computing has advanced in a decade with regards to the graphics and game-play, which takes the form of a traditional platform adventure with elements of 2D puzzle-solving.  It was released (this time by Ubisoft) across a whole host of platforms, from Microsoft Windows & Xbox 360 through Nintendo Wii & 3DS to PlayStation 3 and even Android and iOS (okay, this terminology is getting beyond me now - anyway, lots of different computers!).  It did not, however, garner very good reviews and has largely fallen into obscurity in the last five years.



Speaking of falling into obscurity, especially in reference to the 2011 game, is the film that inspired it.  I can hardly believe that it has been nearly ten years since The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn came out.  At the time we were promised that it would be the start of a trilogy of films (at least), with Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson sharing directing duties.  Indeed the film ends on a cliff-hanger, with the clear intention of being carried on with the story-line of the following book Red Rackham's Treasure, yet here we are in 2020 and there's been not a dicky-bird!  Come on chaps, get your fingers out and get on with giving us another cracking Tintin film before the poor fellow turns 100.  At this rate Jamie Bell will be old enough to play Captain Haddock!

Hopefully the launch of this new video game will inject some fresh interest in Tintin & Co and maybe jump-start Messrs Jackson and Spielberg into getting on and bringing the next instalment of these timeless characters' adventures to the silver screen.  In any event I look forward to seeing what form the new video game takes when more information becomes available.  In the meantime I have been getting my Tintin fix from the 2011 film and the excellent early '90s French-Canadian cartoon series The Adventures of Tintin, which I remember fondly from my youth and (naturally) have as a DVD box set.

All aboard the Coronation Scot - with Tintin and company!

Gosh, has it been really been a whole seven days?  How very remiss of me, but there has honestly been little of note to blog about - except the Chap Olympiad, of course, which I was unable to attend this year but which you can read all about on RetroChick's and Penny Dreadful's blogs (and probably by now a few others - there were hordes of 'em there, by the look of things!).  Next year, I promise you, just you wait!

I've got a couple of posts in Draft that are still waiting to be finished, but for the moment I thought I'd do a little filler about a couple of recent purchases that are of interest.



No, I haven't bought the Coronation Scot (I wish!), or even a ticket to see that famous locomotive (or even been lucky enough to get a ticket for any other famous train, unlike some others I could mention {shakes fists in mock outrage}).  I haven't engaged the services of Mr Tintin either (Tintin?  Mr Tintin?  Mr T. Tin? - what say you?).  What I have obtained, though, are probably the next best things.

Ever since I bought my Monopoly Nostalgia Edition a few years ago (have I mentioned that before?) - in fact earlier than that, from when I first started playing the British Towns card game that has been in the family for years - I've had a hankering for some old-fashioned board games and this has gone some way towards satisfying that craving.  It's the Coronation Scot Railway Game!

Coronation Scot Railway Game, £3 (from £6) + postage, at Past Times

When I first set my eyes on this little game on the Past Times website a year or so back I knew it would only be a matter of time before an example would find a home in Partington-Plans Towers and a happy set of circumstances conspired to allow just that two weekends ago. 

The first circumstance is quite obvious - it's currently half price!  That alone nearly convinced me to take the plunge were it not for the fact that Past Times' postage & packing fee of £3.50 would have negated the saving.  But what was this in my Inbox?!  A special one-day-only offer code for free p&P - AND an extra 20% off everything in the shop?!  Apparently a special thank-you for being a previous customer (although I've bought a few things in person at my local branch several times I can't for the life of me remember ever buying anything online before, but I wasn't about to complain!) - what luck!  So with a whopping 70% off and no postage to pay this wonderful piece of fun came to me for the bargainous sum of £2.55.

A bargain indeed, with four real wooden pieces, dice and shaker plus a proper fold-out board such as one might find on games costing 3 times as much.  Very often a cheap-and-cheerful board game has to make do with nothing more than a piece of reinforced cardboard for a playing surface and plastic markers, but not this one.  Perhaps they really don't make 'em like they used to - top marks to the manufacturers, Ecotronic, for sticking to such a faithful reproduction.  Now that I can look at it closely first hand, I can honestly say that if I'd paid the full price and postage I still would have been happy.

As you can probably tell I'm very pleased with this modest piece of railway fun and am now looking forward to trying this out in a game with someone (any takers?).  In the longer term I've already got my eye on its sister title Touring England but for the time being - all aboard the Coronation Scot!



Turning to Tintin, my post three years ago(!) detailing the then just-completed motion capture film that would become The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (and the one a year later showing the first images) is still even now one of the most popular on this blog and I have been a bad blogger for not having followed it up - particularly as I went and saw it at the cinema and as Messrs Jackson and Spielberg must surely be well into the second film by now!  The least I owe you all is some sort of review and I will see about doing just that, as I have just today bought the DVD.  The special 2 Disc Edition - I always try and buy the 2-disc edition of a film, even though I don't always watch anything on the second disc I just like to get my money's worth and at least I know I have the extras if I ever do want to watch them! - "Exclusive to Sainsbury's", apparently, and "Available for a Limited Time".  We may scoff, but a quick look on Amazon and elsewhere proves the truth in this statement - no sign of a 2-disc special edition anywhere.  The same price as the standard single-disc version sitting right next to it on the same shelf, too, so how could I not?  I must admit Sainsbury's have been doing very well recently to match, or even better, the prices of online retailers - so top marks to them (those who know me well would say that I'd give top marks to Sainsbury's on most things, but we're not here to discuss my grocery preferences!).

Already I'm imagining a Tintin adventure on the Coronation Scot, so I shall away now to watch the film and [eventually] strong-arm a family member into playing the Railway Game.  Hopefully news will pick up in the week ahead, but I will return at some point with the promised review at any rate.

Pip-pip!

Caramba...! Tintin!!

According to Blogger Stats, by far and away the most read post since I started this blog was the news back in November 2009 that the new Tintin film - scheduled for release next year - was "finished" (in that all the dialogue had been recorded). Over 100 views in 24 hours (the next most popular was only 10!)!!

Perhaps this is not so surprising - even after 81 years Tintin still has a loyal following all over the world; not just here, in France and his home country of Belgium but as far afield as Canada, India and Tibet. So it was only a matter of time before the stories were turned into a film but it is only now, having bought the rights after the death of Tintin's creator Georges Remi ("Herge" was his nickname, derived from the French pronunciation of his initials read in reverse - "RG") in 1983, that Steven Spielberg has embarked on a movie venture.

Tintin holds many happy memories for me and I have no hesitation in naming him as a role model when I was growing up. I fondly remember, as I'm sure many of my readers do too, watching the 1991 series The Adventures of Tintin - the box set I now have on DVD! The first 1974 series Herge's Adventures of Tintin is also well-remembered by older members of my family. Despite the comic-book origins, I love the realism of the stories and particularly the time period and settings. The exotic locations that Tintin travelled to on his adventures have a real sense of immediacy and as a boy introduced me and drew me in to a whole other world - a world of 1930s aeroplanes, cars and ocean liners, of strange tribes and evil foreign villains! I have read - and still do read - all the books and am in the process of collecting all the stories again.


If this film can have the same impact on today's children then that would be brilliant. It certainly sounds incredibly promising - a trilogy based on 3 of the books (The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure), the first to be directed by Spielberg, the second by Peter Jackson and the third by the two of them. Motion capture 3D (a live action Tintin series was tried in the 1970s, I think, but was unsuccessful), Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Sherlock) one of the scriptwriters and with a great voice cast - Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, King Kong) as Tintin, Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, Burke & Hare) as Captain Haddock, Daniel Craig as the main villain and Nick Frost & Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) as Thomson & Thompson, this could easily be my film of the year. The pictures that appear throughout this post were released recently and they only serve to heighten my anticipation. Roll on 2011!



N.B. In case you're wondering, the title of this thread comes from one of my favourite (and there are many!) exclamations from the books and series, usually uttered by some shady Latin type on the appearance of our hero. I admit that I sometimes try to work "Caramba!" into everyday conversation. ;-)

Peter Jackson says Tintin film is 'finished'

Peter Jackson says Tintin film is 'finished'

One of my favourite-ever comic book characters is Tintin. I have read, but sadly do not own, almost all of the original books and have the early '90s cartoon series on DVD. The kind of upstanding, decent and adventurous hero that any right-thinking child (or adult, come to that) would be proud to hold up as a role model. His longevity (recently celebrating his 80th birthday) means he can be enjoyed by children of all ages(!). He shows no signs of fading away, either, with the announcement last year of a trilogy of motion-capture films to be directed by Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg. So no great expectations, then! I have been following this latest development since its inception, and I am glad to see that the first film is "in the can" bar the actual motion-capture procedure. Can I and my fellow Tintin fans wait a further two years? Looks like we'll have to! It's going to be worth it, I feel sure!