Glimpse of Spielberg and Jackson’s ‘Tintin’ Hits the ‘Net

Empire Magazine’s December 2010 issue is giving us our first look at Stephen Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s collaborative effort, ‘The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn,’ which is due in theaters in late 2011. The outrageously popular ‘Tintin’ series by Hergé is being adapated by the duo into a feature-length motion-captured 3D flick.

In case you’re not familiar with the inspiration for the film, ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ series is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, with translations published in more than 50 languages and more than 200 million copies of the books sold to date. Created by Belgian artist Georges Rémi, who wrote under the pen name of Hergé, the series follows the adventures of Tintin, a young Belgian reporter and his fox terrier Snowy. The duo are involved in many swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy, mysteries, political thrillers, and even science fiction.

Jackson commented on the transition to CGI and what that might look like for fans of the popular comic. “It’s not really going to feel like the Tintin Hergé drew. It’s going to be somewhat different. With CGI we can bring Hergé’s world to life, keep the stylised caricatured faces, keep everything looking like Hergé’s artwork, but make it photo-real.”

Be sure to hit the jump for some more insightful quotes from the creators as well as a couple of amazing production stills from the flick.

And what of the highly-engaging and well-researched plots Hergé was so well known for in his books? Spielberg explained, “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.”

It’s been reported that originally, Steven Spielberg was intending to create a live-action adaptation of Tintin, having never directed an animated film in his career. However, after calling Peter Jackson to ask if his effects company Weta Digital would work a portion of the film, in particular creating a CGI Snowy, Jackson convinced him to re-think the decision. Jackson, as it turned out, was a longtime fan of Tintin, and convinced Spielberg that live action would not do justice to the comic books, instead recommending that motion capture was the best way of representing Hergé’s world of Tintin.

Some notable voice actors for the upcoming flick include Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as Thompson and Thomson, Daniel Craig as Red Rackham, Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock, and Jamie Bell as the titular character, Tintin. For all of the details, be sure to pick up the December issue of Empire or read more details online at the site.