24 Oct 2011 10:03:10
Steven Spielberg's computer animated 3D adaptation of Belgian comic book hero Tintin premiered in Brussels on Saturday, aiming to capture a new global audience for the adventures of the boy reporter with the trademark quiff.
"The Adventures of Tintin," first penned in 1929 by Brussels-born author Georges Remi, better known as Herge, are already hugely popular in most of Europe and Spielberg said he hoped his film would find fresh fans.
"American audiences will look at this as an original movie," Spielberg told reporters in Brussels.
"Hopefully, if it is successful in America, perhaps for the first time in 80 years the books will start being published in America."
Spielberg, who sported crossed Belgian and American flags on his lapel during the pre-screening press conference, after which he was made a commander of the order of the Belgian crown.
In "The Adventures of Tintin - The Secret of the Unicorn," Spielberg, who directed blockbusters including "Indiana Jones," "E.T." and "Jaws," aims to bridge the gap between Herge's comics and the big screen by employing a technique similar to that deployed in James Cameron's record-breaking "Avatar."
Actors including Jamie Bell, who portrays Tintin, had to adapt to acting in a studio wearing a special suit which registered his movements. The data was then transformed into a computer generated, three dimensional, image of his character.
"It actually becomes like a rehearsal stage, like you are rehearsing for a play you will never put on stage," Bell said.
Spielberg added that he was in touch with Herge, shortly before the author died in 1983, about adapting Tintin.
"He was a big fan of Raiders of the Lost Ark and actually on the telephone said he wanted me to adapt his books into movies so it was one of the most exciting phone calls in my life," Spielberg said.
For Belgium's comic book store owners, renewed interest in Tintin is good news.
"Without doubt we have noticed an uptick in sales. We have also seen this with the recent Smurfs film but even more so with Tintin," said Beo Hanssen of the Beo comic book store in Antwerp.
