Posts Tagged ‘tintin movie’

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Thomson and Thompson the Bumbling Detectives From Tintin

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

Thomson and Thompson are two of the best loved characters in the Adventures of Tintin. Thomson and Thompson first featured in Cigars of the Pharaoh where they arrest Tintin and Snowy as they are enjoying a holiday cruise. In their first outing they prove to be highly efficient characters using a cunning not seen in later albums they appear in. They save Tintin from a firing squad using a disguise that even fools Tintin.

Thomson and Thompson still cause much debate over whether they are twins or not despite their names being different. In Tintin and the Broken Ear Herge uses “Dupont” twice for the two characters. The common consensus is that they are not twins even though Snowy thinks they are in Destination Moon (pg 18; last frame) Snowy says “This is it! … Sensational appearance of the Thomson twins!” To add to the confusion both characters claim to have worn the same mustaches since they were born.

It is the mustaches of Thomson and Thompson that allow the reader to differ between the two. Thomson sports a pointed mustache; his colleague Thompson sports a straight mustache (e.g. Land of Black Gold, p2, frames 6, 7, and p9, frame 6, and p33, frame 11).

One of the main reasons that the pair is so popular is that they provide a lot of the comic relief in the albums they appear in. They are the bumbling detectives that spend much of their time chasing the wrong suspects throughout the story lines (they pursue Tintin in Land of Black Gold for crimes he didn’t commit) and are afflicted with spoonerism. They are always seen to be clumsy and bumble their way through each adventure and in spite of this always seem to be sent on important missions or given extra special tasks to perform such as guaranteeing security for the Syldavian space project.

The detective with the flared mustache is Thomson (without “p”), who often describes himself as “Thomson, without a ‘p’, as in Venezuela!” The detective with the flat mustache has described himself as “Thompson with a ‘P’, as in…” and then used words with either a silent “P,” or in which the “P” is combined with another letter, as to change the sound, such as Philadelphia, psychology and so on.

Thomson and Thompson are easily familiar with everyone as they are most often seen in their bowler hats and carrying walking sticks. They though always cause amusement when they go abroad as they change into costumes that they believe make them fit in the locals but in actuality are so poorly chosen they stick out like sore thumbs.

Herge based Thomson and Thompson on his uncles who were twins that wore bowler matching bowler hats. Herge then also drew further inspiration for the detectives from two mustachioed, bowler hated and formally dressed detectives in Le Miroir who were seen escorting a criminal in the picture. One was handcuffed to the criminal while the other was holding their two umbrellas.

It remains to be seen if Thomson and Thompson wil be in the upcoming Tintin movie to be directed by Steven Spielberg andbe released in 2010. If you want to learn more about Tintin and the upcoming film then please visit my site Tintin movie.

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Tintin Movie Rumour Latest Link – Thomas Sangster To Play Tintin

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

The story linking Thomas Sangster to the Tintin Movie first appeared from what I can tell in the British press in the form of a story in the Daily Mail that later gained slightly more credence when it appeared in the better thought of Daily Telegraph.

The Telegraph wrote “Thomas Sangster, 17, who played the role of Liam Neeson’s step son in Love Actually, had originally sent an audition tape to the Hollywood director hoping to snare a role in The Talisman, a project which never got off the ground

Instead Spielberg realised he had found the boy who could play Tintin, the young adventurer created by Belgian cartoonist and writer Georges Prosper Remi, better known by his pen name of Hergé.”
Taking into consideration the wording of the Telegraph article that this is still no more than a rumour I have looked into other sources including the obvious such as IMDB and cannot confirm for sure that Thomas Sangster is going to play Tintin.

Thomas Sangster is the latest in a list of actors who have been linked to the Tintin role that includes Kristin Myburgh, Simon Pegg and even Gwyneth Paltrow at one point!

Thomas Sangster is actually the cousin of Hugh Grant and lives in South London with his family. Sangster first appeared in the BBC television film The Adventure of Station Jim. He has developed quite reputation and won the award “Best Actor in a mini-series” at the Monte Carlo Film festival for his role in Entrusted. Thomas Sangster came to the movie going public’s attention though for his much acclaimed performance as Liam Neeson’s stepson in Love Actually.

He has gone onto appear in several films including “Nanny McPhee” and “Tristan and Isolde”. Thomas is due to appear next in the film “The Fence” which is a holocaust based movie. Still the rumours about the Tintin movie role persist. If you want to learn more more about the upcoming Tintin movie then please visit my site English speaking site Le Tintin Movie.

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Should a Tintin Movie Be Made

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

The upcoming Tintin Movie trilogy follows a recent trend over the last 5 years to turn popular/cult comics into movie. There reasons for this are that it allows movie studios to tap into existing audiences with fans of these comic characters along with the added benefit that the lead character of any movie will be already in the consciousness of much of the movie going public at some level.

The use of comic books for the source of a movie also allows for special effects to be used in such a manor that they cannot be questioned as part of the integrity of the film as often this is the only way to portray the comic character in the most authentic way.

The problem through is that many films get caught up in the largess of special effects and the movies themselves suffer as result as the plot lines and acting in those movies are often very weak.

This leads to some very poor movies getting made that benefit no one from the movie houses involved, the actors involved in the film and it certainly adds no benefit to the much loved comic character that has been portrayed in the film.

The recent spate of films that have angered many comic fan purists include adaptations of the comic/graphic novel characters such as The Punisher, The Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze) and The Daredevil.

These comic/graphic novel characters were successful incarnations that captured the hearts and minds of comic fans and provided an escape to many. Then to see these characters butchered in films that many see as both movie studios and comic creators “cashing in” leave true fans angry and cold.

The question being asked by many is whether a Tintin movie should be made. I have added this debate to my site in a democracy poll I have done. The common consensus is that many true fans do not want to see a movie being made. The Herge creation that is Tintin is a much loved European character and one that many feel should not be adapted especially by Hollywood. The illustrations in the adventure albums drawn by Herge are true works of art that have inspired the likes of Warhol. The true Tintin fans worry that the feel of the albums can never be caught successfully on the big screen.

I believe they can be and that the Tintin movie venture should be embraced. The fact that it has taken 25 years to get to the position now with Steven Spielberg involved in the project is a plus. Spielberg first agreed to create a Tintin movie back the 1980’s and was given the rights to bring the much loved Walloon character to the big screen. At the time Spielberg felt that he could get the look of the movie to be close enough to the feel of the book. The project took a back burner and Spielberg option for the movie ran out.

In the meantime there have been many people linked with the Tintin movie but it could never get made. It took until this year for another deal to be struck. Spielberg is involved once more along with Peter Jackson of Lord of the Ring’s fame.

This can only be good for true Tintin fans. Spielberg himself is a fan and now feels that the look of the albums with the ligne claire illustrations can now be translated to the big screen. This is where Peter Jackson will come in providing valuable technological expertise. Jackson along with his partners as the Weta Workshop will use technology developed for Lord of the Rings. The character Gollum was created by Weta using motion capture techniques on actor Andy Serkis then using key frame animation and subsurface scattering rendering techniques enabled the first completely convincing portrayal of an animated humanoid in a feature film. This technology will bring a realistic portrayal of Tintin to the big screen. Jackson said “We’re making the character look photo realistic – the fibers of their clothing, the pores of their skin and each individual hair. It is possible that the work, certainly the first one will start next year”.

The people at Weta devoted one whole year to make sure the look of the Tintin albums were translated to the screen and the 20 minute demo they produced wowed the backers of the Tintin Movie trilogy. It is this dedication to detail and the story telling ability of these two titans of film (Spielberg and Jackson) that should ensure a Tintin movie is made that will please devoted Tintin fans and movie goers in equal measure.

If you would like to learn the latest of the upcoming film then please visit my site Tintin movie news and learn more about Tintin too.

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The Truth About Tintin Created By Herge

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

Tintin has been popular in Europe since his inception but to those across the pond little is known about this Belgium boy detective; so who is Tintin? Tintin is a young Belgian reporter who through heroic action solves mysteries that are presented at the start of each comic book. Tintin was first introduced to the world in Tintin in the Land of the Soviets. Created by George Remi the first adventure was released in a Belgium paper in 1929-1930.

Tintin and the Land of the Soviets was a political satire that poked fun at the Soviets claims to having a thriving economy and found an audience due to many people’s unease with the Soviet Empire. Remi himself had distrust for the Soviet Empire.

The Tintin comic series have an almost formulaic feel about it. Most of the books deal with Tintin having to solve a mystery of some kind whilst also having to write a story for his paper.

Tintin and the Black Island is a fine reference point on to understanding how Herge created such a succesful character. In The Black Island Tinitn sees a plane make an emergency landing and goes to try and help. Tintin tries to help the pilot but the pilot attempts to shoot him instead. Tintin then recovers in hospitable where he finds out that a similar plane crashed in a field in Sussex from the detectives Thompson and Thompson.

The logical step for Tintin is to now solve the mystery for himself. The adventure thus starts leading Tintin to be accused of assault and theft of a fellow passenger on a train journey and later kidnapped and forced to jump off a cliff (saved by his dog snowy before he is made too). The trail sends Tintin to an Island off Scotland where stories of a mythical beast that kills is said to live. Tintin discovers the Island to be the hideout of forgers and cleverly captures them and holds them till the police arrive.

Tintin is always able to solve the mysteries that are put before him although some are set over two books such as Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon. The wierd happenstance in many Tintin albums is that you will see Tintin solve crimes but more often than not hand in a finished article. The end of the comic strips often sees him receiving a hero’s reception along with Captain Haddock and Snowy.

Tintin is a heroic young man but lacks the color of many of the other characters that appear in the comic books. Herge created a chararcter in Tintin with neutral attitudes which makes him easier to understand.

The plan is to release a Tintin movie trilogy with the first film to be released in 2010 which will lead to Tintin becoming even more popular. The Tintin movie will be directed by Steven Spielberg andto find out more please visit the website Le Tintin Movie.

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