Spielberg to Produce Live-Action Tintin Movie (s)

jtauber writes "Looks like the Adventures of Tintin may be the next series of books to be turned into a film franchise with Spielberg in talks to acquire the rights. See the Marlinspike for more information." Tintin was one of my favorite "book" type comics growing up - and they've released collections.

Comments

Important step

[ekrout]

Spielberg is the best of the best.

Glad to see this announcement.

Re:Important step

[Anonymous Coward]

Impressive work today. Really nice, especially your second comment in the Linux 2.6 thread. Keep it up. We're watching you and like what we see.

Re:Important step

[Anonymous Coward]

I must have read each Titin album tens of times. Some are average, but some are pure gems (L'Île Noire, Le Sceptre d'Ottokar and Titin au Tibet being my favorites). I'm afraid they're gonna have to modify the stories quite a bit if they want to turn them into wide-audience movies. In retrospect, most of the albums were politically incorrect and would not be written that way today. For instance, I doubt anybody would write a cartoon with a young, teenage-looking blond boy living alone in a belgian manor with an old sailor. (There have always been rumors about Hergé's sexual orientation. In almost 20 albums, Titin never had the of a love affair...). Also, some albums, especially the first ones (Titin au Congo, Titin en Amérique, Le Lotus Bleu, L'Oreille Cassée...) had a colonialistic and supremacist tone.

If they do make movies from the albums, I wish the action takes place in the same universe and at the same period the stories were written (most of them between 1930 and 1960). It would be really nice to see a real-life Bordurie and a flesh-and-bone Syldavian royal family!

Re:Important step

[Anonymous Coward]

Bollocks! I dare you to find one truly good movie that Spielberg has made, besides Schlinder's List.

Now count all the bad movies he's made. You'll probably run out of fingers... and toes.

Re:Important step

[Anonymous Coward]

attention, this man is a known troll

do not mod him up

i repeat, do not mod him up

Re:Important step

[Anonymous Coward]

You did not make me smile. Your comments are inane. I hate you.

Re:Important step

[noewun]

Spielberg is greatly overrated as a director, methinks. In all his movies save one (Schindler's List) he very easily falls back on sentimentality to make his point, rather than good directing.

Compared to the late, great Kubrick, or Soderbergh, he's a hack.

Re:Important step

[Anonymous Coward]

huh, what about the Indiana Jones serie ? Imho, these movies are action movie classics now.

Re:Important step

[Ponty]

Oh yay! I actually jumped from my chair when I heard this. Delight!

I adore Tintin. The sense of adventure and innocence is amazing. I hope he maintains the tenor and spirit of Hergé's creation.

What a thrill!

It's also crucial that they get just the combination of cute and mischievous for the actor. If it's Macauly Culkin or someone dippy like that, I'll be most disappointed.

That just made my very bad day.

Re:Important step

[BitHive]

Prepare...to...be...

...disappointed.

Re:Important step

[v8interceptor]

Agreed. i think AI would have been amazing if Kubrick had finished - instead of Spielberg trying pathetically to "clone" Kubrick's style.

Nonetheless, let's not forget Empire of the Sun (one of my all time favourite films) and, of course, Indiana Jones (even though it was George Lucas's idea).

Re:Important step

[noewun]

A well-made genre film, but nowhere near any of Kubrick's stuff, nor Soderbergh's, nor Gilliam's. . .

Spielberg makes airy fluff with lots of pretty things, let's not confuse this with art. Schindler's List is the pinnacle of his work, and for that his greatest decision was to follow the book almost to the letter (except for that excrable last scene in which survivors place stones on Schindler's grave). I will say that Saving provate Ryan was one of the most amazingly technically proficient films I have ever seen, with some incredible stunts, but that's melodrama, not good directing.

Re:Important step

[Anonymous Coward]

Excrable??

Do you mean excrEble?

Re:Important step

[noewun]

Perhaps. Language is such a fuzzy thing.

Tintin?

[Anonymous Coward]

Like that dude from The Crow with the knives?

Re:Tintin?

[ibcmax]

The subject of this thread is the exact reason why Spielberg shouldnt do this film.

Not only do the youth culture of today (and lets face it, its the kids buying tickets that make the box-office money) have no idea who Cuthbert Calculus is, let alone Tintin,there is no way that Spielberg even at his best could make it appealing to the masses without totally destroying what the comic series was, and in the process annoying all the real fans. The Tintin style of story is not the Hollywood style of story, and neither are the characters. No-one (except perhaps the youngest of children) could find the bumbling antics of Thompson and Thomson actually funny when played by actors in a real live setting.

The comic format was just too integral to what made Tintin fun, as was Herge's talent and attention to detail, which Spielberg and Hollywood may have no patience for.

Re:Tintin?

[LUN!X]

Pardon me.. but I disagree.

No-one (except perhaps the youngest of children) could find the bumbling antics of Thompson and Thomson actually funny when played by actors in a real live setting.

Haven't you ever seen Laurel and Hardy??!! I can't be the only mid-twenty guy in the world who still appreciates vintage film.

Re:Tintin?

[Snoopy77]

No-one (except perhaps the youngest of children) could find the bumbling antics of Thompson and Thomson actually funny when played by actors in a real live setting

Ahhh, but what if they were played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. Now that would be hilarious.

Re:Tintin?

[Stauf]

... Not only do the youth culture of today (and lets face it, its the kids buying tickets that make the box-office money) have no idea who Cuthbert Calculus is, let alone Tintin...

The hell is this?

My youngest brother (14) knows who Tintin is. He borrowed them religiously from the school library until he had read every single one. His friends have read Tintin (he lent out his copies).

In fact, just a minute ago he was really excited because I just told him that /. had a story saying there'd be a Tintin movie.

Maybe, just maybe, American children don't know who Tintin is. Maybe hes big in Europe (where we bought a half dozen Tintin books for the first time). Maybe Tintin isn't an American thing, so perhaps you've just got yourself a terribly narrow outlook on the world. Maybe.

Re:Tintin?

[collar]

Maybe, just maybe, American children don't know who Tintin is. Maybe hes big in Europe (where we bought a half dozen Tintin books for the first time). Maybe Tintin isn't an American thing, so perhaps you've just got yourself a terribly narrow outlook on the world. Maybe.

The poster of the comment you replied to is Australian, not American. It's funny that perhaps you have such a terribly narrow outlook on the world that you assumed the poster was American.

Re:Tintin?

[ibcmax]

Even narrower is your assumption that I am American.

I'm from Australia.

I admit it was a vast generalisation when I said that kids dont know who he is, but its true. Most kids dont. Hell - half the people posting here today didnt know who he was. There are brighter, shinier comics these days, and sadly comics of yesteryear are only known by the lucky few who stumble on them in libraries or who are told about them by fans of the comic.

If it doesnt have superpowers and wear spandex it generally doesnt cut it these days. Yes that was another vast generalisation, just so you know :)

Re:Tintin?

[Swiss_Cheeseman]

Ha, all of my friends know about him, and im from australia. Hes very well known from my experience. And tin tin would translate to a movie beautifully if done well. The cartoons rocked.

Re:Tintin?

[El Cabri]

The poster of the comment you replied to is Australian, not American. It's funny that perhaps you have such a terribly narrow outlook on the world that you assumed the poster was American.

Australians are much like Americans, with the exception that they don't even have Canada and Mexico to rermind them that they are not alone in the world.

Re:Tintin?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, the real difference is that Australians are free

Re:Tintin?

[Nept]

who should play thomson (thomson without a 'p' as in 'venzesuela')?

Re:Tintin?

[Nept]

no you aren't :)
I collect the 16 mm L&H films, but have most of the shows on DVD

Re:Tintin?

[Stauf]

Then my apologies - I was responding to the general 'american kids don't care' sentiment then specifically your post - maybe I should have checked.

And I must say that outside Europe there is very little Tintin to be seen unfortunatley.

(Incidentally, I'm living in sunny Wollongong, and theres a bookclub specialising in Tintin and other, similar comics here thats pretty active; maybe Tintin only appeals to a really thin section of the population)

Re:Tintin?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm Australian i I love Tin-Tin. Quit generalising and speaking for the rest of us

Spielberg?

[I Am The Owl]

I'm not at all familiar with the "Tintin" series, but I have a bad feeling about it already. Does anybody remember the end of AI? Yeah. I thought so.

Re:Spielberg?

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

TinTin will be like Indiana Jones, only with the Nazi-collaborrators as the heroes!

Re:Spielberg?

[b0r0din]

Ahh, tintin. Who can forget the years and years of MUD-based carnage done with tintin, or its later predecessor, tintin++.

Spielberg could not do such text adventure justice.

I can only imagine such a script:

# T I N T I N + + v1.5pl9 FINAL
# (T)he k(I)cki(N) (T)ickin d(I)kumud clie(N)t
# a DIKU-mud client
#
> #se 1 generic.dikumud.com 9999

FADE IN: Gorath
password: *********

> You are in a dark alley. Two muggers are here, their knives flashing at you. An exit lies north.

#alias {runaway} {n;n;n;n;n;n;n;n;};runaway

You run like a little girl for the exit. They block you.

#read ItsWeaponTime;weaponsup
#OK. 43 ALIASES LOADED.
#OK. 2 ACTIONS LOADED.
#OK. 0 ANTISUBS LOADED.
#OK. 10 SUBSTITUTES LOADED.
#OK. 13 VARIABLES LOADED.
#OK. 45 HIGHLIGHTS LOADED.
You load the uzi.
You load the minigun.
You wield the Hammer of Thor.
You load the rocket launcher.
You wield the rocket launcher. Mugger #1 begins to piss his pants.
shoot;shoot
You aim for Mugger #1.
You fire. Direct hit. Body parts ooze off the wall.
You aim for Mugger #2.
You fire. Direct hit. A blackened spot is all that remains of Mugger #2. You are victorious. But Steven Spielberg shows up with a flak cannon. He aims for your heart.
look
You cannot look when you're dead.
#end
TINTIN suffers from bloodlack, and the lack of a beating heart...
TINTIN is dead! R.I.P.
Your blood freezes as you hear TINTIN's death cry.
% sniff

Re:Spielberg?

[Bonker]

Tintin is much more of an episodic adventure story, similar to cliffhangers. The posters who state that it's like 'Indiana Jones' are fairly correct. Tintin is told on a much more juvenille scale.

Re:Spielberg?

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess it's right up his alley, then...

Re:Spielberg?

[wattersa]

Does anybody remember the end of AI? Yeah. I thought so.
AI?! How about 1941? Let's hope his adaptation of Tintin is less whimsical.

Re:Spielberg?

[Neon Spiral Injector]

Didn't Tin Tin end with aliens already? I only saw the cartoon dubbed in English. Nick would show them in the very early morning when I was in college. I loved the show, but it was hard for me to catch them. One day I was wandering through a comic store and found 2 issues. I bought them both hoping to find more later, but alas I never did (I don't visit comic store much).

Re:Spielberg?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, deleted the DiVX before it was an hour in... that was teh worst movie ever!

Re:Spielberg?

[Anonymous Coward]

How the hell can this be moderated as insightful ???!!!

The poster obviously has never read a Tintin album! I he had, he'd know that more often than not, the villains are modelled after Gestapo and SS officers!

Other popular villains include traitors.

Re:Spielberg?

[Ma�djeurtam]

Here in Belgium, there's a controversy about Hergé having been close to nazi's ideas in his early years.

This explains that.

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

[shrike99]

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. No, squeeze out the acid and fling it into the eyes of the Man. Speilberg has lost it BTW.

Re:If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

[vipw]

Seen minority report?

I don't think he's lost it.

Re:If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

[martyn s]

Actually, I HAVE seen minority report, and this just confirms it for me.

Maybe, but....

[krazyninja]

...I hope Spielberg doesnot produce one more of his Lost-world series of movies, starring Tintin this time ;)))

Still waiting...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm still waiting for the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series to be put to film...

Re:Still waiting...

[Stauf]

Like Wing Commander III?

Under a killing moon?

Re:Still waiting...

[Vaystrem]

Actually about 7 years ago there was a film, only about 30 minutes long, where the entire Theatre was equipped with voting mechanisms and at certain key "plot points" the audience could vote on the next progression. Was interesting, not very good though. The choice was limited as to which actor would make the decision on how to go forward and you would choose the corresponding color to the color of their jacket iirc.

Re:Still waiting...

[eam]

Sounds like a musical that was done in a dinner theater where I worked. It was The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Lots of fun.

Oh, please... No!

[girl_geek_antinomy]

You can't! No! They're sacred, damn it!

Adaptations of Asterix have been bad enough, especially those dreadful live-action ones with Depardieu...

I grew up on French comics, which I guess is some excuse, but... You just -can't- live action adapt Tintin. It'll be awful! Or at least, if they have to, in the name of all that is Holy -please- adapt them as cartoons...

... Please...?

Re:Oh, please... No!

[denisbergeron]

Astérix : Mission Cléopâtre is the best movie I saw.
Funny, sexy, with a lot of flash for adult and children.

Re:Oh, please... No!

[xyzzy]

I must admit, I have every bit as much trepidation as you. Tintin is quite literally my childhood -- I read my first one while visting France with my parents when I was 8, in 1976. When Speilberg is good, he's very good... but when he is bad...!

I actually thought the animated series was quite good -- does anyone know if they will EVER be released on DVD???

Re:Oh, please... No!

[Anonymous Coward]

"live-action ones with Depardieu..."

ick... Had never heard of those, that does sound awful.

Re:Oh, please... No!

[Giraldus]

Tintin has already made it to the screen a looong
time ago; there were a couple of movies if I
remember correctly -- twas in the early 70s -- not
adaptations of existing books, but new stories
written for that purpose by Herge ("Tintin et la
toison d'or" is one of the title I remember,
it was taking place in Greece); it was not too
bad precisely because it was a purpose made story
and not an attempt at adapting existing books;
and there was at least one long cartoon which
title I don't remember -- a story about Tournesol
inventing a Startrek like replicator, with
underwater scene at the bottom of an artificial
lake, anyone remembers? (twas not these short
low quality cartoons one see occasionaly on
French tv these days);

--Giraldus

Re:Oh, please... No!

[KFK - Wildcat]

FWIW, Tintin has been adapted as cartoons several times for TV... Wasn't all that bad either.
(So were Asterix cartoons, Spirou & Fantasio's, etc.)

It's true that live action adaptations will almost certainly take the spirit away from the original works though.

Re:Oh, please... No!

[DennisZeMenace]

I grew up on French comics, which I guess is some excuse, but...

Tintin is not a French comic, it's from Belgium. Herge (Tinin's belgian author) laid down the foundation of an entire school of belgian comic writers.

DZM

Re:Oh, please... No!

[girl_geek_antinomy]

Yes, I noticed this thinko in the moment I posted ;) I wondered how long it would take for someone to spot it... A bit longer than I thought, as it happens...

Re:Oh, please... No!

[Hanji]

I agree completely!
That just isn't done!!
You DON'T live adapt things like that -- you said it best - "they're sacred"

Re:Oh, please... No!

[cranos]

Oh please tell me they didn't. They didn't make an Asterix film with the Gallic Nostrils in it did they??? Please say it isn't so, say it isn't so!!!

Re:Oh, please... No!

[avdp]

Tintin et le Lac aux Requins. (no idea on the english name is any)

This movie made it back into a book. Not a comic book strictly speaking (although the size and format of the book is the same) since it looks like pictures from the movie with the bubbles on top.

Re:Oh, please... No!

[broken]

Mmmyep. 'fraid so.

Re:Oh, please... No!

[kzinti]

You can't! No! They're sacred, damn it!

I couldn't agree more. I read a lot of Tintin when I was young - in English translations - and I just loved them. I can't imagine any actor acting quite like I imagined the characters did, nor will their voices sound like I imagined them sounding. I don't want Mr. Spielberg messing around with Herge's creations, and I won't go to see the movies. There are some things you don't want to see "live-action".

--Jim (Thompson, not Thomson)

Re:Oh, please... No!

[cranos]

AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

Re:Oh, please... No!

[Anonymous Coward]

"Tintin and the Lake of Sharks," mec!

Re:Oh, please... No!

[avdp]

I guess I should have guessed :)

Re:Oh, please... No!

[draggy]

Et Gaston la Gaffe!

Spielberg should try LaGaffe first.. then move on to Tintin!

Re:Oh, please... No!

[Anonymous Coward]

Most, if not all have been released on DVD in France; i.e. amazon.fr

Plus, they come with English and Spanish audio tracks and subtitles! The only "problem" is their region (if you don't live in Europe, Japan, South Africa, or the Middle East).

Re:Oh, please... No!

[iopha]

I read all them in French, growing up in Québec as a kid. There alreayd have been a few live-action movies of Tintin for European audiences, and yes, they were awful. ;) They weren't based on any of the books, though. If I recall correctly, there was 'Tintin et les Oranges Bleus' and also 'Tintin et le Mystère de la Toison D'or', both filmed in the early 1960s. I can't seem to find any information on the web, but I know they exist.

There also was an animated cartoon called 'Tintin et le Lac au Requins', which I've never seen, but I have the comic version of. I wonder if they will come up with some new storyline of adapt from one of the books. The later ones hold up quite well, notably the sardonic political commentary of 'Tintin et Les Picaros' where Tintin assists a coup d'état in a fictional Latin American country or 'Vol 747 Pour Sydney,' which has a wonderfully X-Filesque dénouement.

I just hope to God they don't adapt 'Tintin Au Congo' or any of the really, really early ones, since they *are* terribly racist and rely on all kinds of stereotypes (and they just aren't good stories generally). Who would play Tintin anyway? Keanu Reeves? Heath Ledger? Ugh. On second thought, leave my childhood alone, Spielberg. Go pilfer something else.

iopha

Re:Oh, please... No!

[Scrameustache]

Too late...

There was one already in 1961, and another in '64.

in the name of all that is Holy -please- adapt them as cartoons...


Hmmm...that would be 1969 and 1972

Adaptations of Asterix have been bad enough, especially those dreadful live-action ones with Depardieu...

Shut up, the first one was rather lame, but the one with Cleopatra totally captured the comic's feel, and was so close to the animated version too (wich I'll just assume you haven't seen).

Re:Oh, please... No!

[rat7307]

Tintin is not a French comic, it's from Belgium. Herge (Tinin's belgian author) laid down the foundation of an entire school of belgian comic writers.

Slashdot: News about Herge, stuff that matters

Re:Oh, please... No!

[Archie Steel]

Actually, there was a Lagaffe film...man did it suck! Maybe out of some copyright issues, the characters didn't have their real name (Gaston himself was renamed "G."). As you can see from the IMDB page, it didn't have that much of an impact...

Re:Oh, please... No!

[stefanvt]

Tintin and the Sharklake (or something to that extent)

BTW: Hergé is Belgian

Re:Oh, please... No!

[stud9920]

Actually the cartoons from 1990 were pretty neat.

Re:Oh, please... No!

[avdp]

I know, so am I.

Re:Oh, please... No!

[Xcruciate]

"tintin and the Lake of Sharks" in English. I have the book.

Re:Oh, please... No!

[xyzzy]

Yea, I did a search after I posted and found that... Hmm, maybe it's time for me to get a region-free DVD :-) (I'm in the US, home of the fascist entertainment lobby)

Re:Oh, please... No!

[stefanvt]

That makes two of us than ...

Re:Oh, please... No!

[Mattsson]

Damn! When will they do Gaston and Spirou? =-)

Re:Oh, please... No!

[Sri Lumpa]

"Tintin is not a French comic, it's from Belgium."

While Tintin is indeed from Belgium by a Belgium author it is most certainly part of the French culture and can therefore be reasonably accurately be described as French.

Only anal retentive nitpicker and a few Belge people wanting to differentiate themselves from France much like some Canadians do from the States would vehemently object ot qualifying Tintin as French.

Oh, and there is another good example of intermixing of French culture and French-speaking Belgium culture:

Johny Haliday is the biggest French rockstar in France, but he is Belge(Belgian?).

Arguing that either Johny Haliday or Tintin are not French is stupid and pointless because though it is true in a strictly literal sense both are as much a part of French culture as they are of Belgium culture.

Re:Oh, please... No!

[DennisZeMenace]

While Tintin is indeed from Belgium by a Belgium author it is most certainly part of the French culture and can therefore be reasonably accurately be described as French.

You're forgetting that Herge was french/dutch bilingual, and all Tintin were also originally released in Dutch (as 'Kuifje'). It just so happens that the french (as in language) comics market is considerably bigger, hence people remember it mainly as a french (as in language) comics, and sometimes even wrongly as a French (as in country) comics.

That's a difference, i'm pretty sure Haliday never sang in Dutch (thank god! :-))

DZM

Re:Oh, please... No!

[Anonymous Coward]

fuk spielberg, fuk him up his stoopid ass.

Re:Oh, please... No!

[Sri Lumpa]

"You're forgetting that Herge was french/dutch bilingual, and all Tintin were also originally released in Dutch (as 'Kuifje')."

Actually, I didn't forget, I jus thad no idea. Thanks for the info, although in my opinion it doesn't invalidate my point (mainly because I am French and although I always know Tintin was Belgium I also always took it as an integral part of French culture).

"i'm pretty sure Haliday never sang in Dutch (thank god! :-))"

LOL

I wish they wouldn't...

[Jinxo]

Tintin is a classic series. Many people, myself included, view it with a romantic eye as a classic. I wasn't pleased when they made Asterix films, and I feel the same way for Tintin. Have they totally ran out of ideas??

Re:I wish they wouldn't...

[CanadaDave]

Yes they have totally run out of ideas. Have you seen the preview for that new movie Dare Devil? I mean can you think of a more obscure comic character to make a movie out of? Sure it has Ben Afleck, but it is going to bomb. So to answer your question, YES, they are totally running out of ideas. The ratio of the number of good movies to the number of bad movies has been steadily declining, ever since I started watching lots of movies, when I was young, around 1985 let's say. Although the good movies are getting more and more spectacular. But still if you go by sheer numbers, the ratio I defined above is still doing down. If the pace of movie releases was slowed down a bit, perhaps some of these BAD ideas (like a Tintin movie) could be filtered out before they go into production.

Re:I wish they wouldn't...

[Anonymous Coward]

What about Nathan Lane as Green Lantern?

Re:I wish they wouldn't...

[Milkyman]

Daredevil is hardly obscure. He's one of Marvel's oldest characters with a long running series.

Re:I wish they wouldn't...

[CanadaDave]

He's still obscure to the general public, and that's my point. The average Joe is not going to want to spend $12.50 CAD at his local Famous Players SilverCity to see some comic book character that he's never heard of, and who has never even had his own Saturday monrning cartoon show.

Re:I wish they wouldn't...

[Anonymous Coward]

None of my friends are comic book geeks. The only exposure to comcis they've had are through television (the old Spiderman cartoon, Superfriends, Spiderman on the Electric Company, etc) and movies (Batman series, mostly). Yet they knew who the X-men where before the movie came out, they know all about the Hulk, about the Fantastic Four, about Daredevil. The may not know every character's name ("Green Lantern? Never heard of him. Oh, the guy with the magic ring! Yeah, I rmember him.") but they know more characters than you'd think.

I'm really looking forward to this.

[suwalski]

I remember as a kid those comics really entertained me. In particular, I enjoyed the one where they go to the moon. I thought they were very nicely written. The professor "having a goat" was great...

Re:I'm really looking forward to this.

[rolocroz]

Acting the goat, not having a goat.

Re:I'm really looking forward to this.

[BitHive]

A GOAT!? ME!?!!?

Re:I'm really looking forward to this.

[boysimple]

oooh! me too! Loved that scene.

Let the casting begin...

[tgrotvedt]

Any ideas for the stars of the movie?

Maybe...

Ben Afleck for Tintin?

Oh, and that boat guy has to be Sean Connery.

Re:Let the casting begin...

[wirefarm]

Actually, I always thought Jude Law looked a bit like Tintin in Gattaca... (Or was it Ethan Hawke? Whatever...)

Cheers,
Jim

Re:Let the casting begin...

[Anonymous Coward]

Ed Grimley?

Re:Let the casting begin...

[Snoopy77]

I thought Leonardo DiCapuccino would be perfect. If Hollywood is going to butcher Tintin then there is no use doing it half arsed.

Re:Let the casting begin...

[CaseyB]

It's all about the hair.

Hence, Seth Green, or Chris "The Sherminator" Owen.

Re:Let the casting begin...

[AndroidCat]

I've already posted this, but who says that they'll use actors? They could use CGI or animation. Animation could have more of the look'n'feel of the comic, but I tend to doubt that Spielberg would go for that.

Re:Let the casting begin...

[tgrotvedt]

The story said "live-action". There is no live action CGI or Animation...

Re:Let the casting begin...

[Anonymous Coward]

What makes a man want to be a mouse?

a piece of good cheese?

Re:Let the casting begin...

[LittleGuy]

"The boat guy" = Captain Haddock. Sure, Connery comes to mind, but there are other mid-40 scruffy types (I'll throw in James Gandolfini).

Tintin will either be Haley Joel Osment, Daniel Radcliffe, or some unknown.

Thompson Twins? I leave to our wonder British /.ers to propose.

Re:Let the casting begin...

[SgtClueLs]

Good god, a loaf of bread can act better then Ben Afleck. Unless JLow teaches him some acting (Which is doubtfull, have you seen her act?), I wouldn't go see the movie.

The only movie he was good in, was Goodwill Hunting, and Dogma (Even though he wasn't that great), but acted enough to keep it alive.

Re:Let the casting begin...

[tgrotvedt]

I was more talking about who they might choose... not who I would like to see in the roles... but, IMHO Ben Afleck's pretty good. 'Course I'm not in the industry or anything...

Underpants Math.

[EverStoned]

1)Come up with a crappy idea for a movie.
2)Add Speilburg
3)Profit!

Re:Underpants Math.

[Anonymous Coward]

1) Every
2) Article
3) Has
4) One
5) Of
6) These
7) Anoying
8) Steps
9) List

Re:Re:Underpants Math.

[Zen Programmer]

You're so right.

1) Mod the parent of my post up, and the parent of that post down.
2) ?????
3) Profit!

Re:Underpants Math.

[Uzull]

You forgot one : There are 26 albums ! This makes
1)Come up with a crappy idea for a movie.
2)Add Speilburg
3)Profit!
4)26 times => an awful lot of money. What about quality ?

What??

[Tuxinatorium]

Am I the only one here who has never, ever heard of Tintin?

Re:What??

[Anonymous Coward]

yes you are.

Re:What??

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes.

Re:What??

[Anonymous Coward]

where have you been all your life ? wanking in your parent's garage ?

Re:What??

[Ponty]

Yep.

Re:What??

[Sloppy]

It's bascially an inferior alternative to TinyFugue.

Re:What??

[Tuxinatorium]

It's bascially an inferior alternative to TinyFugue.
And i've never heard of that, either!

Re:What??

[Sloppy]

Do you have a ... oh, what do they call those .. um.. a life? If so, they might explain why you don't know about the popular MUD clients of yesteryear.

Billions of..

[samgrover]

bilious blue blistering barnacles!

About time :-)

Re:Billions of..

[bayankaran]

Bashi Bazouks, Kleptomaniacs, filibusters!

Re:Billions of..

[Anonymous Coward]

Or, in the original:

"Mille milliard de mille sabords!"

Hey, look at the bright side...

[rsidd]

These can't be worse than the Asterix live-action movies.

AGREED

[Anonymous Coward]

Please, Spielberg, don't do it. Sit on the rights and make Jurassic IV instead.

Other adaptions....

[tgrotvedt]

Will this film be aimed at very young kids, or all ages?

I'd really much prefer a cartoon (or live action) Calvin and Hobbes film. Also an animated series/film of Sergio Aragones' Groo The Wanderer would be the ultimate in entertainment for me...

...I really should grow up a bit...

Re:Other adaptions....

[Anonymous Coward]

oldgroo..?

Re:Other adaptions....

[iopha]

Bill Watterson will *never*, *ever*, permit Calvin and Hobbes to be licensed. He has said this explicitly in interviews and in the introduction to the Calvin & Hobbes tenth anniversary book. He maintains that 'spin-off' products (cartoons, calendars, mugs, etc) are only cash cows which add nothing to the original vision of the comic strip. They ruin the integrity of the strip and reduce the characters to 'advertising hucksters' (actual quote) whose insights on life can no longer be taken seriously.

Bill Watterson said NO to literally MILLIONS of dollars because he believed the integrity of his strip was worth more.

That, my friends, is something you don't see anymore; I respect him greatly for his decision, which has gone unheralded and ignored and even mocked by some.

iopha

Re:Other adaptions....

[Pooh]

But Herge died a long time ago.
Whoever own the right for Tintin, will sell it to Spielberg: if they already let the english version call Milou 'Snowy'... disgusting.

Re:Other adaptions....

[Anonymous Coward]

Bill Watterson will *never*, *ever*, permit Calvin and Hobbes to be licensed.
As the owner of many Calvin and Hobbes items, I'm just wondering what in the hell you're talking about.

Re:Other adaptions....

[Noren]

The only Calvin and Hobbes item that was licenced by Bill Watterson other than books of reprints of his comic strips was a single calendar in... 1987? Which he was forced into by his contract and agent fairly early in his career, and regretted. Everything else is illegal use of his characters, and Watterson doesn't get a dime. The problem is that because of his never licence stance, he can't successfully claim any monetary damages for the illegal use (he's not competing in those markets) and there are no teams of corporate lawyers to defend his copyright (There's no cash cow of merchandising to support them.) This makes his works about the worst defended copyrighted works out there, and spawns many, many sleazy and illegal merchandise makers, whom you have unfortunately been supporting. Did you really think Watterson wanted a large line of Calvin pissing on things window stickers?

This is one of the few cases where copyright in my opinion is too weak in the current system; only if you are profiting from a work is it practical to defend it.

This site has the only interview Watterson has given, and two speeches he gave (the latest in 1990.) The forward of one of his collections (I'm blanking on which one) describes the legal battles he had to not licence his work in greater detail.

TinTin is ... uummm not to interesting

[IdleTime]

TinTin is a french cartoon that has been published for years. I remember reading it as a kid back in the 60's. It's even older than that and it shows.

I have seen a few TinTin movies later and I just can't deal with it. There is something un-funny about the whole thing.

Let's just hope that Spielberg can breath some new air into the old cartoon.

Re:TinTin is ... uummm not to interesting

[girl_geek_antinomy]

TinTin is a french cartoon that has been published for years.

I think you'll find Belgian was the nationality you were looking for ;)

Re:TinTin is ... uummm not to interesting

[IdleTime]

You are right of course, my bad!
So many years since I really read TinTin.

I apologize if I inadvertantly offended people from Belgia, it was not my intention.

Re:TinTin is ... uummm not to interesting

[BitHive]

Not all cartoons are supposed to be funny. Tintin has plenty of humor, but its woven into a larger narrative. He's the world-famous Tintin, reporter. He has wild adventures that take him around the world (and to the moon), solving crimes and foiling plots. For someone who wants to sound like they understand Tintin, you sure missed the boat.

This is wrong.

[jericho4.0]

Nooooooooooooooo!!!!! Don't let this happen. Tintin is attractive for two reasons. The gourgeous art, and the european feel.

Speilberg is going to produce some stupid action film that glosses over all the subelties and ruins Tintin for the next generation.

Man I sound old.

Re:This is wrong.

[Anonymous Coward]

Gorgeous art, yeah. I liked the technical detail of the later books, then I found out that the plane was drawn by the Yoko Tsuno dude, Leloup. Pretty good!

Re:This is wrong.

[swein515]

"Nooooooooooooooo!!!!! Don't let this happen. LoTR is attractive for two reasons. The gourgeous writing, and the european feel.

Jackson is going to produce some stupid action film that glosses over all the subelties and ruins LoTR for the next generation."

Gimme a break. How many times have we heard this fanboy crap before? STFU before you pass judgement. Rendering something in one medium doesn't destroy it in another, unless YOU let it.

Re:This is wrong.

[Theodore Logan]

Tintin is attractive for two reasons. The gourgeous art, and the european feel.

Actually, there are some tintin mags that are attractive for quite different reasons. Oh, would I love to see Spielberg do that movie!

Re:This is wrong.

[b0r1s]

I saw the subject of your post, and expected something totally different. Nobody else has said it yet, so here it goes:

So far this week, everyone's complained about the RIAA and the MPAA attempting to enforce their copyrights. The clear example of this is http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/11/24/20 10223&mode=nested&tid=103. Every time the MPAA and RIAA attempt to enforce their copyrights, the slashdot crew criticizes both: they're evil, monopolistic, capitalistic entities who care only for money rather than the art their businesses are founded on.

Then a movie comes out, and everything changes. The MPAA is evil, until they release Lord of the Rings, and then movies are great. Then the MPAA is evil again, until Harry Potter comes out, and then movies are the best thing ever. Then the MPAA enforces its copyrights, and they're evil. Now another movie comes out, and everyone flip-flops again.

I suppose consistency is too much to ask for on a site dominated by group think.

Re:This is wrong.

[Elwood P Dowd]

I'm glad someone understands.

A lot of the stuff that kids liked about tintin was just the Hardy Boys + James Bond story line. Which really wasn't so special.

The innovative thing about tintin was the art. An uncommon thing about tintin was the feel. If Speilberg just copies the plot of one of the comics, it'll be worthless trash. That won't bother me too much, even though I read plenty of them when I was a kid.

However, if he uses some new digital process technique to reference the subtly different solid colors of the comic, and he lets it stay innocent, that'd be excellent.

I hate Speilberg more than anyone I know. But he doesn't always make action movies, and sometimes he can do good things with the look of a movie. Compare AI to Minority Report to Private Ryan. Actually, the unifying characteristic of those three movies is the contrast and dark blacks. That would kindof kill any attempt to copy the look of Herge's art.

Whatever. Tintin was one of my first experiences being disappointed by the fact that a storyteller was using formula. I felt ripped off. I'm more upset that those sons of bitches are destroying The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Sure, it's not a classic, but it could make an excellent fucking movie. 'Scuse me.

Re:This is wrong.

[kubrick]

I suppose consistency is too much to ask for on a site dominated by group think.

So you're angry at Slashdot because people posting here all feel the same way about things, but you're also angry because people posting here all have completely different opinions on those same topics?

I guess internal consistency is too much to ask from your argument.

Clue: Slashdot is not a gestalt entity. We are all individuals.

Re:This is wrong.

[breon.halling]

...and dark blacks.

As opposed to all those movies that use light blacks? ;)

Re:This is wrong.

[Elwood P Dowd]

Um. Yeah. That's exactly what I mean. Look at the colors in AI compared to... iduno, 40 Days and 40 Nights.

Unless you're making a comment about race, in which case you might have a great point. And it'd be really apropos, given that we're discussing Tintin.

Re:This is wrong.

[sunya]

you might have actually had a point if LoTR was a comic to being with...

Re:This is wrong.

[breon.halling]

Sorry, I was just being my regular smart-assed self. ;)

Re:This is wrong.

[Saeger]

"Bad artists copy. Good artists steal." - Elwood P Dowd

"Give me a museum and I'll fill it." - Saeger

--

Re:This is wrong.

[Elwood P Dowd]

You know, I said something inflamatory here once, and some AC responded saying, "You're dumb. And what kind of idiot quotes himself, anyway."

That made me feel smart for days. Ok, minutes at least.

You are the King of Trolls

[Anonymous Coward]

I only wish I had the time to hone my skills, as you have.

Re:Please Pardon my ignorance

[Aussie]

> Sounds like a story about a little dog.

Snowy is the dog. Tintin is da man.

Let Spielberg try...

[pdboddy]

As mentioned above, he'll either leave us breathless with his genious, or pissed off with his audacity.

Lets hope he's good this time round.

Snowy?

[Anonymous Coward]

How would they do Snowy? He did quite a bit of talking in the books, and sometimes what he said was important to the story. How would they have a dog do such a thing in a live action movie?

Some things were never meant to be live action.

Re:Snowy?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, really? Snowy??? Is that what they call Milou in the english translation?

bfast link?

[ceejayoz]

Anyone know where the collections link (http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=2181&s ourceid=39391960&isbn=0316357243) goes? I have bfast blocked in my HOSTS file.

Re:bfast link?

[Anonymous Coward]

It goes to a Barnes and Noble page for ISBN 0316357243.

Here's the B&N link.

And the Amazon link.

Both without any click-through crap.

Re:bfast link?

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess someone wanted to make some money while they were at it.

Nice bfast referrer link

[Anonymous Coward]

see you didnt forget to put a referrer ID in that link

luckily bfast is blocked in my firewall

Snowy

[ocie]

As long as they don't pick a goofy voice for snowy. His thoughts were some of the funniest parts of the book, but he wasn't goofy. Closer to Brain than Scooby. He also found a lot of the clues, even if accidentally.

Re:Snowy

[LizardKing]

As long as they don't pick a goofy voice for snowy. His thoughts were some of the funniest parts of the book, but he wasn't goofy.

I always wondered whether Herge intended Snowy to come across as bemused or condescending when he had some of his more insightful thoughts. I agree though, he's certainly more cerebral than Scooby Doo, except when Haddocks cat wound him up.

Chris

Been done already...

[KFK - Wildcat]

There is an older movie, Tintin and the Blue Oranges (1964) that was made for the big screen before...
It was quite boring though, and didn't feel at all like the comics.

My guess is that this new one will be an entertaining movie, but still miles away from the original Tintin envisionned by Hergé.

"Thompson"... yes, with a 'p'

[Anonymous Coward]

to be precise, many people view myself with a romantic eye.

There already has been at least 2...

[Papineau]

I'm not sure about the exact English titles (and I'm too lazy to go check IMDB), but I know that at least 2 live-action films starring Tintin and Haddock have been made: "The tresor of the golden ..." (same thing as with Jason and the Argonauts) and "The blue oranges's mystery". I think they were shot in Spain or in Greece. Somebody can complete here?

Re:There already has been at least 2...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Tintin et mystère de la toison d'or" and "Tintin et les oranges bleues" are the French titles. The first one has been shot in 1961 and features Jean-Pierre Talbot as Tintin and Georges Wilson as Haddock.

In my opinion, both films weren't very good adventure films, but they were good adaptations of the comics.

Tintin's Film Resume

[Cuthbert Calculus]

For those who are interested, a brief rundown of Tintin's history on the big (and small) screen can be found at http://www.tintin.qc.ca/english/cinema.htm

Re:Tintin's Film Resume

[SysKoll]

The site mentioned above (tintin.qc.ca) gives indeed a good history of the Tintin movies. The series was adapted into several not-so-good movies already. I've seen them all. :-)

The Spielberg aficionados will take comfort in knowing that Spielberg had been negociating to buy the Tintin movies. He declared in an interview that after the success of the 1st Indiana Jones, he had money for some old film projects he wanted to do, among which a Tintin movie. He has been a long-time admirer of Hergé. Unfortunately, after Hergé's death, the negociations went nowhere.

The character of Chang in the "Temple of Doom" is a hommage to Hergé's homonymous character in "The Blue Lotus"

So one thing is sure. Spielberg is not doing this just because he's smelling money. He's taking Hergé's masterpiece as a work of art. That kind of approach generally gives decent results.

As a footnote, the person who heads the company that manages Hergé's copyrights and derivative is an American who married Hergé's widow. That person has acquired a rather sinister reputation for being absolutely merciless, some kind of male Hilary Rosen, not even allowing basic fair use.

--SysKoll

Ever read Agatha Christie?

[mangu]

You should learn to recognize the difference between France and Belgium...

Re:Ever read Agatha Christie?

[girl_geek_antinomy]

Yes, yes. I've acknowledged this thinko already, if you care to give a glance to the other replies...

Re:Ever read Agatha Christie?

[dillon_rinker]

Yes. France is a nation in Europe on Earth. Belgium is recognized galaxy-wide as a rude word. It's important to know the difference.

Spielberg's Filmography - Nothing Short of Amazing

[ekrout]

Spielberg's filmography is nothing short of amazing. Both the quality _and_ quantity of work that he has done is fabulous.

Believe it or not, he didn't even get accepted to the better film schools as a prospective college student, and he ended up at a public university in California. But he showed them who really had the talent, and his life in progress is a tribute to his dedication to follow his dream through thick and thin, bad and good, richer and poorer.

His filmography, below, is listed in more detail at http://www.filmmakers.com/artists/spielberg/filmog raphy/index.htm

* Director - filmography

* Catch Me If You Can (2002)
* Minority Report (2002)
* Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
* The Unfinished Journey (1999)
* Saving Private Ryan (1998)
* Amistad (1997)
* The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
* Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair (1996) (Video Game)
* Schindler's List (1993)
* Jurassic Park (1993)
* Hook (1991)
* Always (1989)
* Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
* Empire of the Sun (1987)
* The Color Purple (1985)
* Amazing Stories (1985) TV Series (3 episodes)
* Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
* Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) (segment 2)
* E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
* Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
* 1941 (1979)
* Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
* Jaws (1975)
* The Sugarland Express (1974)
* Savage (1973) (TV)
* Something Evil (1972) (TV)
* Duel (1971) (TV)
* Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law (1971) TV Series (1 episode)
* Columbo: Murder by the Book (1971) (TV)
* The Psychiatrist (1971) TV Series (2 episodes)
* Night Gallery (1970) TV Series (1 episode)
* Night Gallery (1969) (TV)
* Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969) TV Series (1 episode)
* Amblin (1968)
* The Name of the Game (1968) TV Series (1 episode)
* Firelight (1964)
* Battle Squad (1961)
* Escape to Nowhere (1961)
* The Last Gun (1959)

* Producer - filmography

* Taken (2002) TV Series (executive)
* Men in Black 2 (2002) (executive)
* Catch Me If You Can (2002) (producer)
* Price for Peace (2001) (executive)
* We Stand Alone Together (2001) TV (executive)
* Band of Brothers (2001) TV Series (executive)
* Jurassic Park III (2001) (executive producer)
* Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) (producer)
* Semper Fi (2001) TV (executive)
* Shooting War (2000) TV (executive)
* Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain (1998) TV Series (executive)
* Toonsylvania (1998) TV Series (executive)
* The Last Days (1998) (executive)
* Saving Private Ryan (1998)
* The Mask of Zorro (1998) (executive)
* Deep Impact (1998) (executive)
* Invasion America (1998) TV Series
* Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain (1998) TV Series (executive)
* Toonsylvania (1998) TV Series (executive)
* Amistad (1997)
* Men in Black (1997) (executive)
* Twister (1996) (executive)
* High Incident (1996) TV Series (executive)
* Balto (1995) (executive)
* Freakazoid! (1995) TV Series (executive)
* Casper (1995) (executive)
* Pinky and the Brain (1995) TV Series (executive)
* Tiny Toon Adventures: Night Ghoulery (1995) (TV) (executive)
* ER (1994) TV Series (executive: 1994)
* The Flintstones (1994) (executive)
* I'm Mad (1994) (executive)
* Yakko's World: An Animaniacs Singalong (1994) (V) (executive)
* Schindler's List (1993)
* SeaQuest DSV (1993) TV Series (executive)
* Family Dog (1993) TV Series (executive)
* Animaniacs (1993) TV Series (executive)
* Class of '61 (1993) (TV) (executive)
* SeaQuest DSV (1993) (TV) (executive)
* Trail Mix-Up (1993) (executive)
* We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993) (executive)
* The Habitation of Dragons (1992) (TV)
* The Water Engine (1992) (TV) (executive)
* Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation (1992) (V) (executive)
* An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)
* A Wish for Wings That Work (1991) (TV) (executive)
* Roller Coaster Rabbit (1990) (executive)
* Arachnophobia (1990) (executive)
* Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) (executive)
* Back to the Future Part III (1990) (executive)
* Yume (1990) (executive)
* Tiny Toon Adventures (1990) TV Series (executive)
* Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) (executive)
* Always (1989)
* Back to the Future Part II (1989) (executive)
* Tummy Trouble (1989) (executive)
* Dad (1989) (executive)
* Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) (executive)
* The Land Before Time (1988) (executive)
* *batteries not included (1987) (executive)
* Empire of the Sun (1987)
* Innerspace (1987) (executive)
* An American Tail (1986) (executive)
* The Money Pit (1986) (executive)
* The Color Purple (1985)
* Amazing Stories (1985) TV Series (executive)
* Back to the Future (1985) (executive)
* The Goonies (1985) (executive)
* Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) (executive)
* Gremlins (1984) (executive)
* Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
* E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
* Poltergeist (1982)
* Continental Divide (1981) (executive)
* Used Cars (1980) (executive)
* I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) (executive)

* Screenwriter - filmography

* Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
* Poltergeist (1982)
* Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
* Firelight (1964)
* Escape to Nowhere (1961)

The Steps of a Spielberg movie...

[Anonymous Coward]

Step 1: Buy rights
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Goof it up really bad
Step 4: Ruined his own career

News for Nerds. Stuff that matters.

[toupsie]

Spielberg to Produce Live-Action Tintin Movie(s)

Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles!

[LUN!X]

Nobody could say that with a straight face.. so Capt. Haddock can't be cast. Relax, man :)

Re:Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles!

[Reid]

Too bad Walter Matthau's dead; I could see him playing Haddock. I hope they don't water down Haddock's less politically correct side like I think they did in the cartoon!

Error in clickthrough

[Anonymous Coward]

Error in click-through
There was an error in processing your click-through. One possible cause is that you have elected not to accept cookies. In order to click through properly, please accept cookies for the domain .bfast.com.

like im gonna accept cookies from those bastards

Yayz0rz!

[Anonymous Coward]

I never read the comic but I used to watch the Tintin cartoon show that used to come on Nickeledeon. Anyone remember it?

Who cares??

[Anonymous Coward]

Who cares about this OMG?? This is pure bs!!! I don't come here to see this hollywood crap, I'm here for T E C H N O L O G Y news, S C I E N C E, C O M P U T E R S. Turn off E! and Turn On your brain Slashdot!

Re:Who cares??

[lvdrproject]

It says "news for nerds", not "technology news". Ass.

*ahem*

[Anonymous Coward]

I LOVE TINTIN!!!

Thank you, just needed to get that off my chest.

--iamnotayam

Spielberg needs Eldred

[geekee]

Too bad Eldred hasn't beaten Ashcroft in court yet. Spielberg could have gotten the movie rights for free then.

Re:Spielberg needs Eldred

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn Sony Bono and Disney assholes.

Re:Spielberg needs Eldred

[obdulio]

I'm not so sure, the first episodes were written in the late 20s.

Not just belgian influence, but comics in general

[unfortunateson]

The adventures of Tintin established the visual language now standard in comic strips and books: word and thought balloons, moving to the right to signify 'progress' and the left to signify failure, etc.

See Scott McCloud's history of comics for further praise.

What Spielberg will do to it, I have no idea. It is cited by him as an influence on Raiders.

South of the Border

[jkitchel]

I don't know what tintin is, but from the sounds of these posts, maybe we should send this one to "Steven Spielberg's non-union Mexican exquivalent" and keep it south of the border.

[2F31] A Star is Burns

Burns: Get me Steven Spielberg!
Smithers: He's unavailable.
Burns: Then get me his non-union Mexican equivalent! [later] Listen, Senor Spielbergo, I want you to do for me what Spielberg did for Oskar Schindler.
Spielbergo: Er, Schindler es bueno, Senor Burns es el diablo.
Burns: Listen, Spielbergo, Schindler and I are like peas in a pod: we're both factory owners, we both made shells for the Nazis, but mine worked, dammit! Now go out there and win me that festival!

-- Burns puts his foot down, "A Star is Burns"

Re:South of the Border

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree with that poster from the other day. The Simpsons was much more funny before everyone A) knew what it was, and B) started fucking quoting it everywhere.

Re:South of the Border

[Anonymous Coward]

"Don't cry for me! I'm already dead!" Barney Gumble

Maybe Spielberg should direct the full length version of "Man getting hit by football".

Get Jon Lovitz to supply a voice in there somewhere as well.

Re:Please Pardon my ignorance

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh.. the crushing sound I just heard.. was it.. it cant be.. noooooooooooooooo Snowy... Snowy.... YOU KILLED SNOWY, YOU BASTARD!! Poor Snowy.. crushed like a bug.. his white coat turned red.. and blood all over.. ugh.. the sound I heard was his bones cracking.. and.. now I remember the scream.. oh it's horrible.. It was Snowy.. his last scream.. oh god.. it was terrible.. YOU BASTARD!!!

Re:Spielberg's Filmography - Nothing Short of Amaz

[Anonymous Coward]

* ???
* Profit!

Hmm....

[jchristopher]

Where's my Loch Lomond?

Good idea

[Zen Programmer]

Yeah, I wish the "Time Machine" series (a Choose Your Own Adventure type) would be made into a movie, even though I always chose the wrong page and ended up dead.

Re:Good idea

[nomadic]

Anyone else remember Badlands of Hark?

Re:Good idea

[Neon Spiral Injector]

I liked the "advanced" CYOA books, I believe the series I had was Escape from Tenopa or something to that effect. But my favorite game book series of all time was Lone Wolf. That series is now online as the copyright has returned to the author, and he has allowed them to be published on the web. They are still trying to secure the rights to some of the artwork though. The site is Project Aon. They still need some help proof reading some of the books before they are placed online.

Re:Good idea

[Anonymous Coward]

escape from tenopia! what a great memory you have, I had to do an internet search to remember the exact title... i remember loving those books ~10 years ago. great stuff :)

Rin tin tin?

[bobobobo]

The K9 cop? The German Shepard from that show on USA, wow it's been a while!

complete list...

[avdp]

Accapareur, amiral de bateau-lavoir, amphitryon, anacoluthe, analphabète, analphabète diplômé, anthropophage, anthropopitèque, apache, apprenti-dictateur à la noix de coco, arlequin, astronaute d'eau douce, athlète complet, autocrate,...

Here is a complete list of "insults" (in french). He has quite a collection of them, each more entertaining than the other, and none are even remotely like f*ck, *ss, etc. All banal words from the dictionary, used creatively :)

Ahhh... I love Tintin. Being Belgian I grew up on these "comics" (a term that really doesn't do justice to the art, at least not the Begian/French kind of "comics"). Aside from owning the whole collection, I have several older copies with my dad's dedication in them (got them for birthday gifts, etc) which makes them even more valuable to me.

I am also a fairly big fan of Spielberg - with E.T. being the first major movie I have ever seen, and I still remember going to see it (in Belgium) when I was 11 like it was yesterday! I just hope he doesn't screw this up!

Re:complete list...

[Floyd Turbo]

There's a list in English available here.

Great stuff. (Anacoluthons! Hydrocarbon! Technocrat! Odd-toed ungulate!)

Re:complete list...

[El Cabri]

One year ago there was a Tintin expo in Paris' Musée de la Marine. The expo was about "Tintin and the sea". My favorite part of it was a display of objects which some of Haddock's insults actually refer to, such as an authentic moule à gaufres...

Re:complete list...

[alexburke]

apprenti-dictateur à la noix de coco

Apprentice coconut dictator?!

Re:complete list...

[WoofLu]

I'm sorry, but translating Tintin and Haddock's insults to english doesn't seem right to me!

"Wait and see", I'd say, but I fear that the movie will screw it up \-:

French Comics

[Jonathan]

Tintin is not a French comic, it's from Belgium.

Er, Tintin *is* a French comic -- it's in French! Just because it's from Belgium doesn't change that. If the Americans can speak English, the francophone Belgians certainly speak French.

Re:French Comics

[avdp]

Stop me if I am wrong (and I could, english is not my native language), but when you put a "French" adjective (with a capital letter) you mean "from France" and not "in french".

Re:French Comics

[Jonathan]

Stop me if I am wrong (and I could, english is not my native language), but when you put a "French" adjective (with a capital letter) you mean "from France" and not "in french".

Actually, in English, all references to names of languages are capitalized. One speaks in English or French (and not in english or french)

Re:French Comics

[avdp]

OK, that's good to know! I guess some of the capitalization subtleties of French doesn't translate in English. My bad.

Having said that, I still think the original poster meant "from France" and not "in French". Just like most people would probably say American comics rather than English comics when they're talking about Superman, etc. But hey! Your point (that technically, the original poster might inadvertantly still be correct) is well taken...

Re:French Comics

[Robber Baron]

If the Americans can speak English

That's just it...they can't.

Re:French Comics

[Anonymous Coward]

francophone Belgians

Actually, I would refer to Tintin and Hergé as "damn dirty Walloons."

Re:French Comics

[Ma�djeurtam]

False ! Hergé was from Brussels and can't be a Walloon then.

Re:French Comics

[Anonymous Coward]

Ummm...no.

That would make it a "French Language comic" or a "comic in French." Saying "French comic" implies the nationality, not the language.

Re:French Comics

[Pig Hogger]

Tintin is not more French than L'Il Abner is British...

Sorry, didn't want to be (-1, Redundant)

[mangu]

Slashdot response times are extremely slow nowadays. They should hire some competent C programmers, instead of trying to rely on those cheap Perl hackers....

Get out of here Spielburg!

[dethl]

Tintin was an awesome cartoon! I watched it like everyday on Nickelodeon.....but Speilburg...shit...the result is gonna do one of two things: suck really bad, or kick major ass....seeing how he f*cked up AI (which I was hoping would be a good movie...much to my dissapointment..I want to study AI in college)..I think hes gonna screw this one up as well

No wonder why there isn't anything good out there at the movies....noone is coming up with anything original..they have to steal from someone else and warp the crap out of it. Hey Spielburg, we need originality...give us something new, not reprocessed films.. this message goes out to the rest of the industries...we need INNOVATION...not CRAP

great snakes

[collapser]

at the age of 7, although an avid tintin fan, 'tintin and the blue oranges' introduced me to the concept of camp. in other words it was the gayest film i had ever seen.

easy $ for hollywood, everybody applaud.

Tintin... live action... Spielberg... ack

[ceo]

I'm one of those few Americans who grew up reading Tintin. My battered copy of Red Rackham's Treasure that I was given when I was 7 is probably my oldest possesion. I can't imagine how any director could do a worthwhile job of making a live-action Tintin movie, but Spielberg? He's done some amazing work, yes, but this is the man who reportedly wanted to set the Harry Potter series in an American high school.

Re:Tintin... live action... Spielberg... ack

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, Spielberg wanted Harry Potter to be computer animated and have Haley Joel Osment voice Harry ...

Rin???

[charon_on_acheron]

I'm still trying to figure out what this has to do with a dog.

Although I was always a Lassie fan. From the puzzle I had as a child. Never saw the tv show until later. And only saw Rin TinTin in ads in the comic books, sliding down a line by holding a pulley handle in his mouth.

Still don't know what everyone is getting so excited about.

Re:Rin???

[Anonymous Coward]

That's Tintin, the detective, not rin tin tin.. fucking jew.

Live action Tintin actually dates back to the 60s

[Mr. Khan]

2 live action Tintin films have already been made a long time ago. They might be interesting to fans, but if memory serves they are pretty bland adaptations. Of course, we're talking movies made in 1961 and 1964 respectively. The special effects budget went to making the movies in color I'd wager. :) The movies are Tintin et le mystère de la toison d'or and Tintin et les oranges bleues. You can even find them in DVD on amazon.fr

what about jeunet's plans?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Now wait just a sec here. There has been talk about the French director Jeunet (Delicatessen, City of Lost Children, Aliens IV, Amelie) for well over a year about making the Tin Tin film. Let the French director make it, he should have first dibs and would do a whole lot better than Spielberg. I hope Jeunet has been making it already and halts Spielberg's ideas.

Tintin's shark submarine

[xyote]

Now that is cool. I have a print of it. It's the cover from Red Rackham's Treasure. They could do it I think. Is there a "clear line" style of film making?

Choose yer own adventure

[flogger]

It isn't a movie, but it's sort of like an adventure.

burning off the karma...

Re:Choose yer own adventure

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey wow, great link!

3 words

[flikx]

How would they have a dog do such a thing in a live action movie?

SCOOBY DO

* shudder *

Mud Client

[CanisMajor]

I must confess. I had no clue a movie could be made about my favorite MUD client.

Spielberg sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously. I don't know what the hell a Tinton is, but I'm sure he'll fuck it up just like he does everyting else.

Jaws - the first one was bad enough, too bad they had to make fucking 4 of them.

E.T. - uggh

Indiana Jones - what trash.

Jurassic Park - o.k. book, horrible movie.

Shindler's List - or should I say Bowling for Germany... but it's ok to exploit tragedies like this when your last name ends in berg.

Saving Private Ryan - ZzZZZZZZZZZZzzzz, I'd rather watch Platoon or something.

Band of Brothers - yet another lame war movie idea made into a series, but its a joint effort with intellectual Tom Hanks. I bet they put it together in 5 minutes just because the Sopranos were doing well, he decided to make a shitty series on HBO just so he can make more money on the DVD's later.

A.I. - This is the last straw. Up until Eyes Wide Shut, everything Kubrick did was gold, he just wanted to make a soft porn before his career was over, but leave to Spielberg to tarnish his name beyond the grave.

This guy hasn't helped created anything in the media that I've even slightly enjoyed... and I like everything. Someone needs to put him in his place.

Uh....

[Anonymous Coward]

....excuse me, but since when is Hemos (homos) grown up?

Return of Son of Bonfire of the Vanities...

[nigelc]

So we'll get what?

Haley Joel Osment as Tin-Tin

Robin Williams in a hilarious double casting as The Thompson Twins

Harrison Ford as Captain Haddock

Richard Attenborough as the Professor

And of course, a CGI "Snowy".
I can't wait!

Re:Return of Son of Bonfire of the Vanities...

[Anonymous Coward]

sry, but snowy=milou?

Oh barf.

[r_j_prahad]

I grew up on Herge's TinTin. The books (I decline to call them comics) were excellent, the large format and attention to detail in every frame was astounding, and the story-lines were remarkably mature for the audience they were supposedly aiming for at that time. And the animated cartoons that followed on were flawless reproductions of the books; if I close my eyes and concentrate I can still hear the opening theme... more than twenty years later.

Spielberg can't top this; there are just some things that if you try to imitate them you will only screw them up because the original is beyond imitation. I have a feeling this will turn out like the Batman series.. the first one will be just semi-OK and the rest will be banal marketing tripe used solely to stock toy store shelves at Christmas time.

He can film it if he wants, but I ain't gonna go see it.

Blistering Barnacles!

[Anonymous Coward]

Who do they think could play Tintin? Peewee Herman?

Re:"Thompson"... yes, with a 'p'

[Ponty]

That's one of the major problems I see: nobody will see the Thompson/Thomson juxtaposition. It was fundamental to their characters.

I just can't wait to see who does Castafiore. Calculus isn't that hard, Haddock will be fun, but Mme. C. has to be delightful.

CYOA movies

[yerricde]

I'm still waiting for the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series to be put to film...

Translating a Choose Your Own Adventure book into the format closest to a movie produces laserdisc/DVD games similar to "Dragon's Lair".

Oh CRAP! Tintin by Spielberg. YUCK!

[crovira]

Herge, the Belgian, (not French Belgian, "Je ne suis pas un maudit Francais madame, je suis un sale Belge,") who created Tintin must be turning in his grave.

Hollywood/Spielberg will make some clap-trap dumbed-down gets-the-girl-in-the-end rendition of something which doesn't belong anywhere but on the printed page.

Fuck, why does Hollywood insist on tearing the heads off all my memories and jerkin' off down the neck. I'm going to stay well away from this Anglofied doggerel.

Re:Oh CRAP! Tintin by Spielberg. YUCK!

[Xandis]

Yes, adding a love interest for Tintin will be a requirement if it is to be made for the masses.

I imagine a perky and silly American blonde girl that Tintin will try to ignore but she will pop up periodically and get everyone in trouble. Then, of course, she will save the day and Tintin will see her in a different light and fall in love with her (by the 3rd movie). Snowy will be jealous and that will provide some comedy.

The problem isn't Hollywood per se but rather the growing stupidity of the world's population. Hollywood just feeds off of that. Europe isn't improving intelligence-wise either. Everyone worldwide is getting fat and stupid just like here in the USA. People think Hollywood makes movies just for the American audience...that's not true - it is a global audience that Hollywood reaches.

The beautiful thing about Herge was that he could make very strong political points in his work without being shrill. Today political points by artists are almost always made loudly, obviously and with an "I'm right, you are wrong" attitude.

Herge represents a type of artist that you rarely see anymore unfortunately. Woody Allen is another good example of someone who has strong views and can use his art to spell out his feelings without being shrill and stupid (like, say, the Baldwin brothers or the Sheen family!).

Herge's work is too good for the likes of anyone today to mess with it.

Tintin and the Picaros said it all...wake up and take an honest look at reality...it is rather ugly and a lot of romantic notions have to be forgotten. It is time for a real change.

Re:Oh CRAP! Tintin by Spielberg. YUCK!

[Anonymous Coward]

dumbed-down gets-the-girl-in-the-end rendition

Too bad Tintin is gay :-)

Casting Nightmare:

[LMariachi]

Jim Belushi as Captain Haddock.
Leonardo DiCaprio as Tintin, or, if Leo's too old, "Malcolm in the Middle."
Jim Carrey as Professor Calculus.
Robin Williams as Thompson & Thomson.
Snowy will be CGI, voiced by Ahmed Best.

Re:Casting Nightmare:

[iopha]

Reading yours and other posts, I get the impression everyone is casting Tintin in the early or mid teens. I'm pretty sure he was in his twenties-- he didn't age from book to book, and he's off on his own all the time, working as a reporter, firing weapons, getting into fights (and winning against people twice his size). He's young, but *not* a teenager. I don't think. I've never seen the the animated cartoons, but I have all the original French books. It's weird, actually, since I am trying to figure out which characters are which after translations..

iopha

Re:Casting Nightmare:

[Sri Lumpa]

Tintin was most probably not a teenager, although he does look very young and not too manly.

Professor Calculus. -> Professor Tournesol(?)
Thompson & Thomson. -> Dupont et Dupont (I'm not sure about t or d for the spelling but I think its t)
Snowy -> Milou

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

Just had to say it.

captain haddock

[v8interceptor]

please please please let it be Bruce Willis...:)

Re:Spielberg's Filmography - Nothing Short of Amaz

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup, and while Senior Speilbergo is working his ass off, our good friend George Lucas has made what 7 films? So who has more money? Or more influence?

Not that I care, its just I think and interesting comparison.

JoeR /jmr02/

Re:Still waiting... for my book...

[saskboy]

I'm still waiting for the "Choose your own Adventure - Bible" that I ordered two years ago. Do you think I've been scammed?

Something positive at least...

[Cheese Cracker]

it's not Disney.

(I just hope Spielberg will do his best...)

Memepool link

[MrEd]

A Tintin movie? Nah, that's just not going far enough. I want Tintin and Batman movie! Get Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Rastapopulous, throw in a few explosions and a cool car... you're set!

This may be karma-whoring but at least I'm giving credit where credit is due... :)

Martin Short

[AltGrendel]

AKA Ed Grimley

Re:"Thompson"... yes, with a 'p'

[AndroidCat]

Who says that they'll use actors? They could do it CGI or animation.

Another term...

[Ungrounded Lightning]

Being Belgian I grew up on these "comics" (a term that really doesn't do justice to the art, at least not the Begian/French kind of "comics").

A term has been coined which, IMHO, does accurately describe the art form which includes Tintin.

"Graphic Novel"

(It has the same relation to a written novel that a stage play or feature movie has to an oral storyteller's story or radio drama.)

Re:Another term...

[Anonymous Coward]

aka "Hard-bound comic book"

Re:Another term...

[hcduvall]

A term that came into popularity with Maus (still the greatest of the literary comics). On the other hand, if you ask Spiegelman, he calls it a comic.

"Graphic Novel" seems like a term created specifically to dodge the stigma of the rightful descriptor. I remember "prestige format" editions. Heh. I think Chris Ware, who along with Daniel Clowes seems to be getting the most play amongst outside 'reputable media' for the comic work had it best when hidden in the isbn section of one of his works it said (paraphrased):

Under no circumstances file under literature or fiction. File only under Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Role-Playing Games.

They're comics damnit!

Ah well, I do the same thing with 'movie' and 'film' to differentiate what between something I describing as good or just enjoyed.

Re:Another term...

[avdp]

Well the main thing that bothers me about the term "comics" is that it implies something about its content - such as comedy or something fun or funny about it. I guess that's how they started in the US, and that's how the term came to exist. However, I have read French "comics" about the holocaust, and there is nothing even remotely fun or funny about them, and they're definetely not targeted at kids. So I personally prefer a more content neutral term for these things. I had never heard of "graphic novel" before, but I guess it is more appropriate.

I know. It's just a word. However weird it sounds in some context, it's the correct word to use.

Re:Another term...

[hcduvall]

That's certainly a fair point. I personally have a bit of defensiveness coming from the US. If the other person in conversation has no base of knowledge beyond Spider-Man et al (which I do like), comics do have a childish reputation. But I think of "graphic novel" as a bit of a dodge. Its describing a medium which works in the brain in so many different ways than just words and pictures that the gravity that "graphic" and "novel" add to it as terms takes more away from how the medium actually works than it lends weight.

Scott McCloud's book/comic Understanding Comics is by the far the best argument for it. He doesn't solve the problem of content neutral term that gives the medium its full respect, but he might raise the term comic itself.

All pts taken. You've just been caught in my personal crusade to justify my own expensive hobbies.

Re:Another term...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Graphic Novel" makes me think of some sort of porn comic strip, like "Oh Wicked Wanda!" from Penthouse.

Conversation between two girls on a ship headed to Oz: "It says here that Australia used to be a penal colony. Does that mean what I hope it means?"

Seriously, though, I find English speaking North American culture sadly lacking in some of these wonderful European comics. It's not only Tintin, but Asterix as well, with all the wonderful puns, cameo appearances, and historical references from the future. I was lucky enough to have a fair number of the books sent to me from Britain when I was young, and was also able to find a fair number of them at the library. Sadly, they have all but disappeared from local bookshelves.

Spielberg had it once before... and lost it

[Jaycatt]

I'm surprised I haven't seen this mentioned yet. Or maybe it has been mentioned by now. Anyway, there's this interesting text on the www.tintin.com website in the "At The Movies" section.

"More than ever, Hergé was leaning toward live-action movies. "Because that's the way I see it" he said to a journalist from L'Express, "My Tintin is alive, my Captain Haddock as well. But such movies should be produced with budgets equivalent to those a James Bond movie". And isn't it a project of that sort that Steven Spielberg brought to the screen in 1980 with Raiders of the Lost Ark? Although Indiana Jones, embodied by Harrison Ford, does not resemble the young reporter and his golf knickers, many scenes of the movie look as if they come from the adventures of Tintin or Blake et Mortimer. Quite strangely though, it seems that the references to classic Belgian comics are not coming from Hergé's or Jacobs' stories but from a cinematographic intermediary. Indeed, while preparing his own movie, Spielberg screened L'Homme de Rio a dozen times.

In 1982, Spielberg went one step further by proposing to acquire the rights to adapt The Adventures of Tintin. While weakened by an illness which would take him a few months later, Hergé expressed a strong interest in the venture, hoping that Spielberg would be granted all necessary liberties. But the director of Duel, unconvinced by the first script written by Melissa Matheson, soon decided to take on a production role and leave the directing to Europeans. Many names came up and among them, Jean-Jacques Beineix. But soon, the choice turned to Roman Polanski who said that he always wanted to make a Tintin movie. Wasn't one of the characters of Pirates a sort of Captain Haddock? Polanski declared his preference for King Ottokar's Sceptre, a story full of personal meanings. Nevertheless this project never took off and in 1987, Spielberg abandoned his option on the rights (at about the same time the Franco-Vietnamese producer Lâm Lê abandoned the idea of adapting La Marque Jaune from Edgar Jacobs)."

Re:Spielberg had it once before... and lost it

[ceo]

Although Indiana Jones, embodied by Harrison Ford, does not resemble the young reporter and his golf knickers, many scenes of the movie look as if they come from the adventures of Tintin or Blake et Mortimer.

For instance, the temple where the Holy Grail is found in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is the same as the temple where Emir Ben Kalish Ezab takes refuge in the Tintin story The Red Sea Sharks. Both are modeled on the real-life rock city of Petra in Jordan, but it's clear that Spielberg took his inspiration for that setting from the Tintin story.

Ah well...

[Jaycatt]

I guess it was mentioned in a few of the articles... But this goes into more detail for those who are interested, I guess.

The best Tintin site

[charlesnadeau]

A friend of mine has a very comprehensive Tintin site there: http://www.tintin.qc.ca/ . If you really want to get to know Tintin, this is the best place to see.

Tintin books in UK English?

[abischof]

So, apparently the books are available as a collection now, but does anyone know where I can find Tintin in the UK English translations? (seriously)

Tintin has been translated into many languages, probably dozens. And, I can attest that there are both UK English editions and US English editions; however, the US English editions are horrible. I'm an American, so you can be assured that this isn't some wacky British pride clouding my judgement, but something was just not right in the US English versions.

So, does anyone know where I can buy the UK English editions of Tintin? Part of my problem is that, even if I can find Tintin for sale online (not that hard, I suppose), I'm not sure how to be certain which edition I'd be buying.

Re:Tintin books in UK English?

[jpkunst]

So, does anyone know where I can buy the UK English editions of Tintin?

Here?

Amazon.co.uk (link to a 272-item result set for author "Herge")

After AI

[Anonymous Coward]

Please, no. Please, pick any other project. I loved TinTin as a kid.

My guess:
TinTin...Tom Hanks (somehow)
Captain Haddock...Robin Williams (time for his career to take another nosedive)
Calculus...John Cleese (for which I would see it)
Bianca Castafiore...Anna Nicole Smith (She's got the makeup down, just some more drugs and the age will look about the same)

After that, there is no point going on.

Re:"Thompson"... yes, with a 'p'

[Ponty]

Aaah. CGI would be a nightmare. I can think of few worse ways to butcher it.

Animation would be neat if they could capture the whimsy and lightness of Hergé's art. That would be pretty slick. Of course the voices would have to be good, then =)

billions of blue blistering barnacles!!!

[farnsworth]

billions of blue blistering barnacles!!!

one has to assume that they will cast John Lydon to play Tintin.

Chateau de Moulinsart

[dachshund]

bilious blue blistering barnacles!

Well, the good news is that they won't have trouble finding a set for Captain Haddock's Chateau de Moulinsarart-- it already exists. Of course, in real life it's known as the Chateau Cheverny and has a couple of large additions on the sides.

But I'm sure a little digital editing magic and they'll have a great set.

3 expressions

[Anonymous Coward]

1.pull down pants
2.sit on seat
3.poopit!

Asterix animated movies were OK.

[Anonymous Coward]

In french, at least, they had some great songs. And attention to detail, too.

"Gaulois, venu de loin pour m'accabler de haîne
Je saurai vous montrer commment meurt une reine"

No offense, but American comic sucks BIG TIME

[kryptola]

I'm kinda surprised to see Tintin made a headline at /., probably because Spielberg is involved.
I remember back when I first came to the US in 1998, the librarian had no idea what is Tintin, as well as Lucky Luke?
Seriously, if you grew up with non-American comic, you will truly appreciate how beautiful the comic world is. I grew up with Tintin, Lucky Luke, tons of manga (Captain Subasha, Doraemon, oh, and many), I really hate these shits from America. Batman, Superman, Spiderman suck, BIG TIME. One thing is that, cartoon should not be in color. If they are, they should be in bright color like blue, yellow, not black, dark blue, and red, which I find so common in Marvel comic.
Anyways, I probably gonna read Tintin again (this time is the 50th time or more I read every Tintin series). Oh, and FYI, try to look for Lucky Luke, it's very hilarious
My two cents

Re:No offense, but American comic sucks BIG TIME

[Anonymous Coward]

They used to show 5-minute(?) Lucky Luke cartoons on TV in Australia...

tintin in the congo

[spasm]

oooh! is speilberg going to start at the series beginning with the deeply racist, pro-nazi, occupation-era 'tintin in the congo'? heh.

Re:tintin in the congo

[Openadvocate]

Heh, yes I was thinking that too :)
Wasn't that one re-relased in a changed version? I remember reading it as a kid but I didn't really think about the pitchblack people with big red lips running around like monkeys. It first as a grown up, I was informed of it's 'issues'. :) And upon re-examination with the eyes of a grown up, it is hard to believe that it was something I could get from the kids section of our public library. I mean, it was not like some subtle placed messages or something.

Re:tintin in the congo

[LizardKing]

oooh! is speilberg going to start at the series beginning with the deeply racist, pro-nazi, occupation-era 'tintin in the congo'? heh.

Tintin in the Congo wasn't the first of the series, and it was also well before Belgiums occupation in World War II. The first Tintin story was Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, which despite its crudity was a very accurate satire of the Soviet Union.

Chris

Re:tintin in the congo

[spasm]

no wonder the nazis liked him so much.. : ) but thanks for the tip, hadn't heard of that one.

Re:tintin in the congo

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do I get the distinct impression reading a lot of Slashdot comments that many of you are Bolshevik wannabes who can't wait to start force marching people into reeducation camps? Tintin the "fascist" and "racist" is 100% preferable to you teeth-grinding totalitarians and your irrepressible urge to censor, silence, and destroy anything and everything that is not politically correct.

Re:tintin in the congo

[Anonymous Coward]

Waddya mean "wannabes"? My grandfather was a card-carrying member of the communist party, my mother was arrested repeatedly under anti-communist laws during the 50s, and I was denied a US green card in the late 90s because I wasn't willing to swear that I had never been a member of a communist party. Yes, you still have to swear to that to move to the home of the free. : )

BTW, where in the above does anyone say tintin in the congo should be banned, censored or silenced? The first poster in the thread seems to have thought the idea of Spielberg doing 'congo' was humorously ironic if anything, and all following posters got into adding detail and corrections to Herge's early history.

I for one have no interest in either banning tintin in the congo or enforcing political correctness. 'congo' is it's own education, and enforced political correctness, as my brief forays into the United States have convinced me, simply makes it harder to engage in vibrant and mutually educational debate - the cornerstone of any civilization.

sans Women

[katalyst]

The Tintin comics also explicitly left out women from its plots except for Bianca who was more of an ogre than a woman ! Also, the Tintin comics had an excellent sense of humour. Thomson and Thompson, Snowy ,Haddok.. its possible. The movies may end up being a lot like the Indiana Jones movies - exotic locations such as Nepal and India, the supernatural touch , the scifi touch. And as quite a few posts claim that Americans aren't familiar with Tintin, it might actually work regardless of the fact that it doen's even vaguely match the original Tintin. It would be looked upon as a new blockbuster... My opinion - go for it!

It's already been done

[JSR $FDED]

There has been one Tintin movie: Tintin et Les Oranges Bleues (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0058663).

It was okay, but disappointing: captain Haddock didn't have the same voice as in the books.

Unadaptable

[olrik666]

I'm French-Canadian and I've read the Tintin comic-books about 10-20 times each since I was a tike. When I re-read these books as an adult, I take great pleasure in them, but I also see their limitations. Adapting them for a modern movie audience as the books *are*, they'll bomb. They will have to be re-written for the most part, and all I can see is that they'll be "Indiana Jones" knock-offs. It does not matter who'll produce/direct/write those films. They'll be anything *but* what Tintin is/was. I would prefer if they simply bought the rights to the Tintin name and write completely new stuff. At least I'd be mildly interested.

The Animated Tintin

[GrimSean]

I know Nelvana used to have a animated version of Tintin (pick it from the pull down) that ran in both english and french up here in Canada. If Nelvana sounds familiar to you, it's probably because they also do Magic School Bus, Franklin, and any other number of kid cartoons you've seen.

It was where I was first introduced to him, and, had I not checked out a few of the original graphic novels by Herge, I wouldn't have even known that Snowy was supposed to 'talk'. He was just animated as a rather intuitive dog, much like Brain on Inspector Gadget, less the intuitive hand gestures and knack for disguises. If I remember correctly, the animation was pretty true to the original artwork.

There's an episode breakdown for you here, for those of you who are interested. It is Ten years old, but it still runs occasionally on the weekends (up here on YTV)

There already has been one, well two

[ppanon]

I remember seeing a French live action Tintin movie on the French channel here in Canada at least a decade ago. It was made in the early sixties and I saw it at least a decade ago. Oh yeah! Tintin et le mystère de la toison d'or(1961) with (according to imdb) a much weaker sequel, Tintin et les oranges bleues (1964). The other Tintin movies listed by imdb (made in '69 and '70's) were cartoon adaptations, but I guess either they were never dubbed for N.A. English audiences or you were too young and they haven't been re-run since.

Of course, the cool thing about these movies is that they weren't sanitized for Poli. Corr. Haddock is a drunk and, although it sometimes makes him stumble onto important clues, it usually gets him into trouble or is ridiculed for comic relief.

<rant> I understand that some people who have been victims of abuse at the hands of drunks feel the subject is not funny. However, ridiculing alcohol abuse is more likely to be an effective deterrent to children than pretending it doesn't happen. Unfortunately, many cautionary tales also have been sanitized from modern culture with, I suspect, the end result of children more susceptible to exploitation by unscrupulous individuals. </rant>

no news

[lfourrier]

it is discussed for many years...
in the sixties, there was "L'homme de Rio" (perhaps the man from Rio in english, but I'm not sure), that was very clearly(even the camera movements in the museum reproduce some cartoon pages) and officially inspired from Tintin adventures. (And I think it is a great film for youngsters(and grown-ups alike))
Spielberg and Lucas where interrested in buying rights. The result at the time was Indiana Jones.
I don't know if Spielberg is trying to renew the rights (he had in 1983) in order to make a film, or to prevent others to do so.

The Tintin Cartoons were great!

[BTWR]

The Tintin Cartoons (shown in USA on HBO and nickelodeon) were fantastic! They were abridged, as they were geared more towards children, but they did a great job, and the voices were dead on to what I always imagined they would be. I have complete confidence in Spielberg (yes, I am bucking the slashdot/nerd trend of hating anyone/anything that is critically praied so that I can sound intelligent), but I question whether this needs to be done, since the cartoons themselves were so great...

Herge

[asciimonster]

I hope they don't change the story of the comics too much... If you only knew how much effort and research Herge, the creator of Tin-Tin, put in to his comics. For instance, in the episode "On a Marche sur la Lune" (We have walked on the moon) captain Haddocks drink starts to float out of his cup when the artificial gravity is swithed off. The boose takes the form of a bubble. Nobody had ever seen that before in real life. When Haddock gets detached from the ship he floats alongside of the spaceship (and does not lag behind). Also, the characters hop over the moon in stead of walk. Remember, this was before Neal ever set foot on the moon. So if they do put the scissors into the story I know Herge is going to, as we say, turn around in his grave.

P.S. In Flanders (Vlaanderen) and the Netherlands Tin-Tin is called "Kuifje" (cowlick,quiff) because of his unusual hairdo.

P.S.2: Some years ago, there was a TV-series (cartoon) made from the Tin-Tin stories. Luckely they were smart and did not make any changes in the original storyline.

Re:Live action Tintin actually dates back to the 6

[Monsieur_F]

The problem with these movies is that the actors did not have the same voices as in the books !

(This was said by a kid when the movie got out, and I think I agree with him)

Anyway, it is astonishing how much Jean-Pierre Talbot looks like Tintin. Well, this was the only reason why he was hired for the job, as he does not seem to have played in any other movie before or afterwards.

That's anyway better than to have Christian Clavier as Asterix (sigh)

You mean captain Haddock

[Anonymous Coward]

...see title.

Make the bad men stop!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yet another childhood treasure plundered by the boogymen.

Kudos

[stud9920]

You managed to write a two syllable word with two distinct spelling errors. Congrats.

Herg�

[matt4077]

Actually, the writer, Hergé pretty much invented comics. The early Tintins had the spoken text in squares at the bottom of each picture. Then, there is that thick book, where Tintin first was the character he then became in the series later. It was a lot less funny but more political than the later comics. He was captured by the russians during the time of the october revolution if i remember correctly. Oh, and it was black&white only, no colors. See if you can find that somewhere, i think it is a classic work of art.

Jeunet wanted to do it...

[Anonymous Coward]

According to Berliner Zeitung, Jean-Pierre Jeunet wanted to do this, but couldn't due to the extreme demands Herge's widow had regarding the production.

Spielberg doing Tin-Tin instead of Jeunet is about as bad as Spielberg doing Lord of the Rings in place of Peter Jackson, or AI in place of Kubrick, IMO.

For those who don't know, Jeunet is the director who made Delicatessen, The City of Lost Childern, and more recently Amelie.

In the UK press

[t0by]

There was a lot of talk about 'Herge' (think that's the Tintin author's name) and his connections with the Nazi Party.

I would take the line that he was cooperating because he just wanted to write comics and didn't care about politics.

But this was during the Nazi occupation of Belgium and Spielberg is a jew, and....

Animated

[Omkar]

There's an aminated version of Tintin that ran on Cartoon Network last year. It captured the feel of the comics well. I think the live action version will suck, but its possible it could succeed

Snowy? Snowy? Oh no!

[danro]

Snowy will be CGI, voiced by Ahmed Best.

Who the hell is Snowy?
Do they really call Milou that in the US/UK?

Will mr Spielberg ruin this excellent comic totally, or will he have a good hair day and make something wortwhile, like he has been known to do every now and then?

Hmm... I'm afraid I can't answer my own question without being synical in the extreme.

Re:Snowy? Snowy? Oh no!

[codexus]

It really sucks that they changed most of the names. I hope the movie will have the original names back.

Re:Snowy? Snowy? Oh no!

[Anonymous Coward]

Dream on.

My guess: In the film, Tintin will be an American.

Re:Snowy? Snowy? Oh no!

[Anne_Nonymous]

Yeah, he's really called Snowy in the UK/US versions. http://rbhatta.freeyellow.com/page6.html
Shows a names around the world for several Herge characters.

And yeah, he'll really ruin this excellent comic totally. I'm not going to go see these movies or the LOTR movies for this very reason.

Re:Snowy? Snowy? Oh no!

[Anonymous Coward]

You are cutting off your nose to spite your face by not going to see the LOTR movies, if you are a fan of the books. The movies are well worth seeing; they are not a slavish immitation of the books, but they do do the books justice by translating their spirit to the big screen, something that is very rarely done well. Peter Jackson is a genius, and he's no Hollywood hack either. He's about as far from Hollywood as you can get.

Re:Snowy? Snowy? Oh no!

[Anne_Nonymous]

No thanks. JRRT took a lot of trouble to build a beautiful, complex world that cannot be duplicated on film the way I see it in my mind's eye. If I were to watch the film, I'd be doomed to experience that world through the director's imagination and limitations film.

Ditto with Herge. The art can't be duplicated on film the way it can be drawn (witness "The Lake of Sharks" film), and any attempts at portraying the characters dilute them (e.g. what voice do you imagine Captain Haddock to have?).

Everyone associated with the LOTR films is cursed and I wish the same on whoever makes a Tintin film.

Re:Snowy? Snowy? Oh no!

[curunir]

Everyone associated with the LOTR films is cursed and I wish the same on whoever makes a Tintin film.

Not that you've seen the special features on the extended DVD, but Christopher Lee specifically talks about his meeting JRRT and receiving permission to play Gandalf if LotR was ever made into a movie. That might lead one believe that JRRT didn't necessarily take "...a lot of trouble to build a beautiful, complex world that cannot be duplicated on film." So while you don't feel that it can be well represented on screen, it most likely wasn't the opinion of JRRT.

Also, having seen the effort that Peter Jackson put into the films, I think he deserves some credit for bringing the story to a whole new generation who might never have read the books.

(And by the by...I can speak from experience that if you've read the books more than 10 times, you don't lose your own vision of the story by seeing the film).

Re:Snowy? Snowy? Oh no!

[Sri Lumpa]

"Ditto with Herge. The art can't be duplicated on film the way it can be drawn (witness "The Lake of Sharks" film), and any attempts at portraying the characters dilute them (e.g. what voice do you imagine Captain Haddock to have?)."

I disagree. It's a very long time since I have seen that movie so I won't comment on that, but the Tintin world can certainly be translated on film as was proven by a series of anime made by a franco-canadian cooperation in the 90's, it was (and is) really good stuff.

Now to know if Hollywood can refrain from screwing things up or to know if it is even possible to make it live action at all without screwing it up is another question, but I am not expecting much intil the shootong begins and we can talk about something abit more concrete.

BTW, the names used in the English version suck IMAO.

Re:Snowy? Snowy? Oh no!

[Sri Lumpa]

"Not that you've seen the special features on the extended DVD, but Christopher Lee specifically talks about his meeting JRRT and receiving permission to play Gandalf if LotR was ever made into a movie."

Yeah, but did he get the permission to play Saruman ;)

Re:Snowy? Snowy? Oh no!

[morzel]

[TONGUE_IN_CHEEK]
Doesn't really matter for the Walloons and French, since they have the uncanny habit of dubbing every single film. :-)
[/TONGUE_IN_CHEEK]

I must admit that it'll be difficult to adapt to the English names for our (Belgian) heros :-)

It's an old news!

[Anonymous Coward]

Spielberg has seen the original author of Tintin, Hergé (aka George Rémi), just before he died in 1983. A test movie of 3 minutes was done and is existing in the archives of Spielberg and an copy at Fondation Hergé, Brussels, Belgium.

This is a long long story never finished, and just nothing of new for european comics specialist that I am. This is just another fuzz due to 3 new books about the life of Hergé.

This can be read in the excellent Les aventures d'Hergé, les héritiers de Tintin by Hughes Dayez, reporter for the belgian Radio-TV... in french.

Re:Live action Tintin actually dates back to the 6

[maw]

Why do so many people - sorry if I seem to be singling you out; I'm not - think that special effects are such a big deal? Sure, a good movie is made better with good, and relevant, special effects, but really, special effects are neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for a good movie.

I guess drooling over special effects in an otherwise lousy movie - that'd be almost anything sci-fi from Hollywood - makes people look pretty shallow. "Ooh, shiny things, I'll see that!"

IMO, of course.

Tintin: should not be subject to trash or treasure

[Dante_J]

Hergé, the Belgian author of the Tintin comics is a very interesting an complex fellow. Harmless on the surface, but with deep contemplation perpetually pumping within.

It's not surprising that this flows over into the character Tintin.

To sum it up as a kids story is like considering a Ferrari F40 as fancy steel.

Tintin, like his author, had a brain, and a conscience - something that many Hackers (in the ESR meaning of the term) can relate to. Sure there was action and comic relief in the comics - but also ethics!

Tintin was very much a 1930's Hacker - he handled information for a living, but saw deeper than contemporary fads, he was prepared to tweak the system if necessary and had the technical prowess to do so. He was a big believer in context and doing things the "Right Way"tm. He looked after daily issues, but always managed to consider the Big picture.

We're not talking Batman here - a character based on a psychological disorder, Tintin has brains and substance.

So is Steven up to the task? - Yes he's displayed real talent one more than one occasion - but does he really CARE about this project? As mentioned previously, Steven has already benefited plenty from Hergé's vision, especially regarding action - so does Steven feel the needs to give something back in return?

Steven sure can afford to - and Europeans would be rather grateful if he did.

So that leads to logistics:

• what time period will it be set ?
• 
  Tintin stories range from 1930's to 1970's

• which book will be selected ?
• 
  a normal development - or all the characters in your face at once?

• how will he handle Snowy?
• 
  The Gadget movie's version of the dog, Brain is an excellent example of what NOT to do

• how much original materal will be introduced ?
• 
  Inevitable, but a very important issue

If done with care, Spielberg could further perpetuate a Cult classic, via Hollywood apparatus to international aproval.

Done badly - A treasure will have been soiled

Re: les oranges bleues

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean this one? They say "This is the second 1960s live action big screen adaptation of Tintin's adventures - and it is not difficult to see why it was also destined to be the last. " I saw Tintin and the Lake of the Sharks (animated film) and enjoyed it immensely. I also remember seeing the Tintin books as an animated series on TV early in the morning -- not bad at all. But live action??!!? I'll believe it when I see it.

Tintin in Tibet movie planned

[szpak]

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, director of The Cup (cf www.movie-list.com/c/cup.shtml), said a few years ago he was planning to do a movie of Tintin in Tibet, one of Herge's sunniest books. Anyone know what the status of this is?

Heh. Anyone seen this one?

[IPFreely]

In the late 80' (~86) I saw a reference to Tintin in another comic. I don't remember what the comic was.

It wasn't actually Tintin. It was Tintin and co done up American Superhero style. The lead character looked like Duke Nukem, with the little curl of hair on his forehead. He had a big white fighting animal thing with horns. The other characters were similarly buffed. They appeared and made some heroic rescue of the comics title characters (I think they may have died in the rescue, don't remember that well).

Anyone know what that comic was?

Tintin Goes to Lebanon

[jonerik]

Anyone else remember that hilarious Tintin satire in National Lampoon about 20 years back, "Tintin Goes to Lebanon?" Brilliant. They really nailed down the artwork. It's been years since I've read it, but it ended up with Tintin being safe on an American battleship off the Lebanon coast while then-Vice President Bush let Tintin launch a cruise missile that nuked Beirut.

Re:Tintin Goes to Lebanon

[Pig Hogger]

Yup, Tintin in Lebanon was one of the best Tintin spoofs I ever saw.

I just hope...

[pulse2600]

they don't serve that cursed mineral water at the movie theatres on opening night!!!

Dragon Ball??

[ciupman]

Wasn't he thinking of making live action Dragon Ball movies too? I saw something about this in a rumour site (maybe slashdot awhile ago, i don't remember)

Tin Tin is a very bad choice

[master_p]

What a bad choice!!! Tin Tin is boring, to say the least. They should do a live action Star Blazers / Space Battleship Yamato movie.

Wrong media, wrong director.

[Sir.Gawain]

I can't help feeling that live action is just wrong for Tintin.

If it was to be directed by Jeunet and Caro I'd be really interested to see how it would turn out. At least they speak the right language (even if they are from the wrong country) and their visual style has quite a cartoon like feel.

But Speilberg? No. Not the right media, not the right director.

I can't help feeling that the motivation to make this movie is more to do with money than it is to do with doing justice to the Tintin stories.

OH

[eadint]

I thought you guys were talking about the stupid dog movie in the 60's, but that was rintin tin. well if you think about it thats more along speilbergs style. yea just let jim make rin tin tin movies. put him in a corner.

Re:Not just belgian influence, but comics in gener

[Noren]

The Scott McCloud book you refer to is Understanding Comics, which I also strongly recommend.

Last Post!

[alpg]

I had a feeling once about mathematics -- that I saw it all. Depth beyond
depth was revealed to me -- the Byss and the Abyss. I saw -- as one might
see the transit of Venus or even the Lord Mayor's Show -- a quantity passing
through infinity and changing its sign from plus to minus. I saw exactly
why it happened and why tergiversation was inevitable -- but it was after
dinner and I let it go.
-- Winston Churchill

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