Exclusive: Andy Serkis Talks Tintin And a little bit of Hobbit too
We got the chance to catch up with Andy Serkis recently and, when not trying to coerce him into recording Gollum answerphone messages, we spoke to him about his role in the upcoming trilogy Tintin.
Though he's keeping schtum on his actual role (it's strongly rumoured that he'll play Captain Haddock), he did say that he's already started work on the project in New Zealand.
"It was on the Avatar stage," Serkis told us, referring to James Cameron's currently shooting 3D CG sci-fi bonanza. "We had this incredible week. Cameron was there, Peter Jackson was there (who's directing one of the three Tintin films), and Steven Spielberg was there (who's directing another). All in the same room!"
Which means that the film will be using the same technology as Avatar, which shows the characters in their (almost) final form on monitors, even though they're only in lycra body stockings on set. "You're on a bare, empty stage with actors standing around in blue Lycra with dots on, but [on the monitor] the director is looking into a fully rendered, three-dimensional virtual set, with the actors as their characters".
It would be too much to hope that Cameron's involvement at this early stage might mean he'll direct the third film. Wouldn't it?
Obviously, we also had to ask Serkis about the possibility of reprising his role as Gollum for the upcoming Hobbit movie. The character appears briefly in the book, playing a riddle game with Bilbo. Though there's no script and no certainty that he'll be written into it, Serkis says "I think I'd find it very hard to turn down the opportunity to play Gollum again, because he's become very much a part of me. For good or bad, he's still very much there!".
For more on both Tintin and The Hobbit, pick up the new issue of Empire, on sale now.
ORIGINAL FRENCH NAMES & SOME FRENCH EUROPEAN ACTORS
hope they don't use the cheesy english renaming of certain characters, and stick to the original french names, like Les frères Dupont, Professeur Tournesol, and the dog Milou, or it's going to be a bit of turn off film projects. Also without lots of french and belgium actors in the mix, I won't be much interested either. As for some real good Tintin live-action film, I'm just afraid no one is ever going to beat the last real good one, Tintin Et Le Mystère De La Toison d'Or (1961). The second fi... Read More
usually a man who doesnt judge a book by its cover and always see's the potential in something meaningless as it may be bu honestly tintin??? i would have understand it if it was a single part movie with a newbie director?? but a trilogy with peter jackson and steven spielberg on board? ok something is wrong here.. i saw bits of that cartoon and there is nothing in it worth putting in a movie... no powerfull characters no interesting plotline no fresh concepts NOTHING if the trilogy is going to... Read More
Oh, to all of you "Why are they wasting their time on Tintin?!" brigade, I say to you: take a hike. I endured for four years whilst PJ made Lord of the Rings for you all; let us have our series now, eh? Or better yet, why don't you wait and see the film, or read the books, and see just why two such esteemed directors consider this "pansy-assed" project worthy of their time? Who knows, maybe you might, too...
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I'd love to see tintin come to life on the big screen (especially as my friend is good enough to be a professional lookalike), but please let's keep the voices as normal as possible. In the cartoon he sounded like he had a clothes peg nicely secured round his nut sack... it would also be an idea (even though he is french) not to have him sounding like a reject from allo allo. ... Read More
I don't see Cameron as being actively involved with this - he just seems to be there at the same time. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who likes Tintin. ... Read More
