On the front cover of the upcoming issue of Empire Magazine is the first look at the new Tintin film which is being brought to life using the same Avatar technology. The rights were held for years by Steven Spielberg who after seeing the advancements made, realized the digital solution would be the best way to bring the characters to life without casting actors specifically for their likeness, as well as staying true to the original designs by Hergé.
The exclusive cover specially created by Weta is a riff on the iconic image of Tintin and his dog Snowy running into a spotlight and has been used in most of the publications.
The film is a co-production between Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson with the motion capture and performance directed by Spielberg and the rendering and digital transformation by Jackson and his talented artists over at Weta Digital.
In the magazine issue, Peter Jackson spoke of the reasons for using the motion capture technology for the beloved characters of Tintin.
With live action you’re going to have actors pretending to be Captain Haddock and Tintin…You’d be casting people to look like them. 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.
The story is drawn from two of the books which sees the young journalist go on a trail for lost treasure with his trusted group of friends and along the way uncover secrets about Captain Haddock’s ancestor. When Spielberg was asked what can fans expect from this new take on the classic story he said:
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.
Thanks to Empire we can show you a couple of stills from the film, one of Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock and another with Haddock and Tintin played by Jamie Bell adrift at sea. The film also stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as Thompson and Thomson respectively and Daniel Craig as Red Rackham. It also features Cary Elwes, Toby Jones, Mackenzie Crook and Daniel Mays.
The issue of Empire is on sale November 4 and you can order your copy online. The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, hits theaters December 23, 2011.
Check out the Empire Cover and the First Pictures here:
[imagebrowser id=7]
No comments yet.