VARIOUS: Director Steven Spielberg and actor Jamie Bell bring beloved Belgian comic home for the world premiere of 'The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn'

Record ID: 220613

  • Title: VARIOUS: Director Steven Spielberg and actor Jamie Bell bring beloved Belgian comic home for the world premiere of 'The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn'
  • Date: 25th October 2011
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF ACROBATS DANCING ON MOVIE POSTER
  • Embargoed: 9th November 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA8U2BKBEJW7DY3BLWUB1LHDF37
  • Story Text: Steven Spielberg's computer animated 3D adaptation of Belgian comic book hero Tintin premiered in Brussels on Saturday (October 22), aiming to capture a new global audience for the adventures of the boy reporter with the trademark quiff.
    About 10,000 people turned up, many dressed as the Belgian comic journalist and carrying stuffed versions of his sidekick Snowy the dog. Acrobats danced on the side of a giant movie poster advertising the world premiere, while a colourful parade of classic cars drove to the debut of Spielberg's highly-anticipated 3D epic.
    In "The Adventures of Tintin - The Secret of the Unicorn", Spielberg, who directed blockbusters including "Indiana Jones", "E.T." and "Jaws", aims to bridge the gap between Herge's comics and the big screen by employing a technique similar to that deployed in James Cameron's record-breaking "Avatar".
    Spielberg employed the technical mastery of "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson as producer for Tintin. Jackson was unable to attend the premiere as he was currently filming "The Hobbit".
    Spielberg admitted he never worked so closely to another director as Jackson and hoped for a role reversal in the follow-up to "Secret of the Unicorn".
    "The important thing was we're good friends and we're good collaborators. I directed this one and he produced it, and if we're lucky, he'll direct the next one and I'll produce it," he told Reuters Television.
    He has also gone on record to say that he first discovered Tintin in his thirties when French journalists compared "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to the Belgian comic journalist. The movie shows similar hair-raising, quirky moments and exotic adventures made famous by "Indiana Jones" but Spielberg said it was not a conscious decision to draw comparisons between the two.
    "Tintin is part of the world of adventures and all adventure stories are part of the similar world," said Spielberg.
    Actors including "Billy Elliot"'s Jamie Bell, who portrays Tintin, had to adapt to acting in a studio wearing a special suit which registered his movements. The data was then transformed into a computer generated, three dimensional, image of his character.
    Bell said while it was nearly every actor's dream to work with two titans of the movie industry, he was also petrified ahead of filming.
    "Yeah I was terrified. Steven said in the press conference if you're not anxious, you're not doing your job right. I think anxiety actually produces results so it was good anxiety," he said.
    French-Moroccan actor Gad Elmaleh, who plays sultan Ben Salaad, received much adoration from screaming fans when he walked the red carpet and said he was surprised at the amount of freedom Spielberg gave actors in the movie.
    "It was really fun because Steven Spielberg is very very close to the actors, who works really close to them and letting them improvising."
    Later, a specially-designed Tintin train was unveiled by Spielberg, which will take him and the rest of the cast and crew to Paris, then London for premieres there over the weekend.
    "The Adventures of Tintin" was first penned in 1929 by Brussels-born author Georges Remi, better known as Herge and are already hugely popular in most of Europe and Spielberg said he hoped his film would find fresh fans.
    The movie also stars British actors Daniel Craig, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
    "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" is out in Belgium, France and the United Kingdom and other European terrirtories on Wednesday (October 26), with global rollouts, including the United States, to follow.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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