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Simon Pegg and Nick Frost Confirmed for Spielberg's Tintin

by Alex Billington
January 6, 2009
Source: Ain't It Cool News

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost Confirmed for Tintin

Here are the things you need to know about Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg's Tintin. Spielberg is still directing the first film, which is slated to hit in 2010. Andy Serkis is still set to play Captain Haddock. Youngster Thomas Sangster, who was going to play Tintin, has dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. British comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost will play detectives Thomson and Thompson. And lastly, the $135 million budget for this performance-capture 3D film is being split by Paramount and Sony. Lots of new details for an enormous project that is slowly gaining steam. But does anyone really care about Tintin?

This update first hit earlier today on Ain't It Cool News. Tintin was delayed when Jackson and Spielberg ran into troubles finding the money needed to get this expensive project off the ground. As Beaks of AICN puts it, "you know the economy is shitty when studios are afraid to finance a Spielberg/Jackson picture." I think the problem is that American audiences don't really care about this movie at all. I'm not even that excited for it, despite knowing that Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are involved. Maybe they need to release some test footage first to show us why it's all actually worth that $135 million budget. Thoughts?

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http://www.liveforfilms.com Live for Films

Simon Pegg mentioned back in 2008 that Steven Spielberg asked that him and Nick Frost play the Thompson Twins in Tintin. Spielberg requested that Pegg meet him on the mocap set: “Steven’s smoking a stogy, cap on head, like he’s always been since I was a baby,” Pegg says, shaking his head in wonder. “I shook his hand and chatted about films. He gave me the mo-cap [motion-capture] camera, and I had a play around with it. Then he said, ‘Hey, maybe you and Nick Frost could play the Thompson Twins.’ In Tintin. A Spielberg movie. To work with him is beyond .. . ” He trails off, lost for words. http://liveforfilm.blogspot.com/2008/09/simon-pegg-and-nick-frost-as-thomson.html
Daniel

I, for one, am excited.
Mr. Wizard

I'd see it but I'm not really sure what its about...just some of the people who are in it.
Itri

You damn well know I'm excited about it. Jesus.
Darunia

Even as a kid i thought Tintin sucked.
shige

Just shows how incredibly dumb american studios can be. Tintin is known worldwide including US so why would americans not be interested ? There is only one thing that can turn them off and that is the whole 3D thing, which turns me off.
Marri

"But does anyone really care about Tintin?" Jesus. Lift your head and look at something beyond your own backward, people.
Sami

Now that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are mentioned, I'm excited.
http://myspace.com/iampaigey Paigey!

Ewwww.... CG image capture? This sounds like it's gonna go right down into the uncanny valley along with Polar Express and Beowulf.
Rosy

Oh, holy god, you know it's gonna kick major chaps. I must admit, though, I'm rather disappiointed to hear that Sangster dropped out. Serious brow kid rocks my socks.
Kail

Motion Capture is the dumbest cheating method in the world, why not just make a real movie? It's not like when Bakshi traced over people to make Lord of the Rings and Fire and Ice, those were fantastic pieces of art, but Beowulf and The Polar Express both looked either too real or too... stiff. Or a mixture of both.
SillySil

I loved Tintin!!
Beetle

Good to see only English actors, they do have the best actors. French second
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/4120/sppunx06oa5.jpg Crapola

CG capture baws. A live action Tintin film would be great, he went on some Indiana Jones type missions, that could be cool. Hey Kail, Bakshi is indeed a great artist, I recently saw a bunch of his films after only seeing some stills for over 20 years, they totally draw you in and at the same time the films are held together with sellotape! Something to think about for Hollywood studios who have all the gimmicks in the world but still can't produce something great. I've went way off topic, so to go even further why not have a look at this film by students from Gobelins, 3 minutes of fun with no cg image capture in sight: http://www.gobelins.fr/galerie/animation/film2008-Apreslapluie.htm
L

$135m on Tintin? I'd have a problem backing this as a studio.
Christopher M

I grew up with the Tintin cartoon and books so I have to admit I'm more interested in this than Astro Boy....
Betterchill

Perhaps Spielberg is getting back to his old ways. After all Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ruined my childhood!
Squiggly

For those of you who do not know what Tin Tin is... Tin Tin is one of the best adventure series for kids ever. It was a comic and a cartoon and it's had so many attempts to copy it that it's a damn shame. Herge - the guy who made the comics and invented the characters - was a fantastic artist. His stuff is really stylish and classy, but still very much cartoony. The thing is, tho, that he really knew how to make some great art, and his pages flow so well. I would think that anyone interested in learning how to make a great comic page would do well to study his stuff. Anywho.. the way I have heard the film described, I believe they are going to be shooting live-action background plates on sets and then using CG to place characters that will actually look like the drawings have come to life. It sounds like it would either be extremely awesome looking or entirely creepy to watch, but assuming Jackson and Spielberg know what they're doing (and that's not hard to imagine at all) I'd say that it would probably look pretty awesome. Like a live-action cartoon. And I think that sort of style would really fit in with Herge's stuff, cause his backgrounds were often filled with painstaking detail, but his characters were very simple and cartoony.
SS

Alex, TinTin is HUGE outside of America. In Europe TinTin has a fame comparable to characters like Spider-Man in the U.S. The thing about TinTin though is that as a character TinTin is devoid of political motives and never seems to judge against people who help him. One of his friends for example is a South American dictator. These have always made TinTin's acceptance a bit iffy. But if anybody can figure out how to bring TinTin to the world and the U.S. it's Steven and Pete.
avoidz

The French love Tintin. That is all...
Rudy

I'm part french, and I grew up reading the books, I even still got all of them in great conditions. Herge was great at what he did. Tintin books drew you in that fantasy world and it was great. Now back to reality, I love the addition to the cast even tho they are not twins they sure are funny. Concerning the amount of money being spent for this I think the movie will do great overseas, not so sure in America tho. I bet you I can walk the street and ask anybody about Tintin and they will look at me weird, but in europe I'm sure I will get a quick answer. that's my take
Florian

I completely love the Tintin series and like a lot of earlier posters i grew up reading em, and i really am excited to see it... Admiteddly, it probably won't do so good in the US because of lack of recognition. I just hope they cast Tintin right.