Eighty years after first appearing as a cartoon character Tintin finally becomes a Hollywood star. Channel 4 News speaks to leading Tintinologist Michael Farr.
Created by Brussels born author Georges Remi, known as Hergé, the adventures of the boy reporter with the ginger forelock and his dog Snowy have been brought to the big screen by none other than Steven Spielberg – aided and abetted by 3D and all the other latest movie wizardry.
Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell, who plays Tintin, has revealed high hopes for the animated adventures to enjoy the same longevity in films as on paper.
“If audiences really embrace it, I will be doing it for the rest of my life,” said the 25 year old actor. “I could be 45 and still doing it.”
Happy to drop his alter ego for the film however was Daniel Craig, who plays the villain in The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.
Speaking at the London premiere last night, Mr Craig said: “It was great, because as a bad guy you get all the best lines.”
The film, which also stars the British actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, was co-written by Doctor Who supremo Steven Moffat, Attack The Block’s Joe Cornish and Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright.
If audiences really embrace it, I will be doing it for the rest of my life. I could be 45 and still doing it. Jamie Bell, Tintin actor
The 3D film brings to life the adventures of the curious young reporter Tintin and his sidekicks, Captain Haddock – played by Andy Serkis – his dog Snowy and bumbling detectives Thompson and Thomson, played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
Mr Craig plays the villainous Ivan Ivanovich Sakharine.
Mr Bell said: “I think we’ve made a film that, if Herge was alive today, I think he’d be proud of, and give us his seal of approval.”
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is released in cinemas on October 26.
And even the purists are excited – “Tintinologist” Michael Farr told Channel 4 News he was looking forward to the film. He said the power of Tintin, particularly during depressing times such as our own, was to “cheer everyone up”.
The books have faced some criticisms for falling short on political correctness. But Mr Farr said that Hergé himself had said he wished he had written them differently, and was only reflecting the attitudes of his time.
“When we spoke in the 70s, he said he would have done it differently,” he said.