Gawker: defamer, tintin

At Last! Unicorny 'Tintin' Reality Blossoms With Jamie Bell And Daniel Craig

STV — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:17:51 EST

After years of delays, budget haggles, director turnover and studio upheaval, we can finally, officially ask: Who's ready for some Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn?!? Oh. Sorry.

Regardless, Steven Spielberg and his newly announced cast — Jamie Bell as the intrepid titular reporter (Tintin, not the unicorn) and Daniel Craig as villainous pirate Red Rackham — have commenced principl photography on their long-awaited adaptation of the 80-year-old Belgian adventure yarn. THR reports that the motion-capture shoot will arrive in 3-D some time in 2011, with producer Peter Jackson likely in line to direct the follow-up if/when the first one achieves the grand ambitions planned by studio partners Sony and Paramount.

And how could it not — it's got secrets! It's got unicorns! It's got an animated Simon Pegg and Nick Frost! What could go wrong, besides the shattered Hand of LaBeouf that kept Spielberg's probable first choice out of the franchise? Ancient history, that, with the semi-redoubtable Bell/Craig box-office tandem yielding this kind of inarguable blockbuster promise. Our only real question is where to place our speculative hopes and dreams now that cameras are rolling. Anyone? And Hilary Duff need not inquire.

Anchors aweigh for 'Tintin' [THR]

Sony Eyeing 'Tintin' Uncomfortably

Seth — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:50:09 EST

· Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are searching for financing and distribution partners for their Tintin series after Universal passed. Sony is said to be interested in splitting the costs, with one studio insider explaining "A $140 million movie about some ~~French~~ Belgian explorer dude with a mini-pompadour and little Wire Fox Terrier that no American kid has ever heard of? Where do we sign?" [THR]
· Universal won a bidding war for video game Dante's Inferno, revolving around a "journey through the depths of hell" presumably separate from the one parents will experience taking their kids to see Dante's Inferno. [Variety]
· McCain's appearance on SNL, an amazingly chipper performance considering Tina Fey was literally inches away from him tearing his running mate to shreds, brought the episode a 9.0 household rating/20 share. (And a seriously funny Keith Olbermann sendup from Ben Affleck. We give props where props are due.) [THR]

After the jump: Jack Bauer's back, and he's more pro-torture than ever!

· 24 will debut in a two-part premiere on January 11 and 12. [Variety]
· The early release of Quantum of Solace overseas earned $38.6 million in countries like the U.K., France, and Sweden. [Variety]
· Miramax picked up Keira Knightley and Eva Mendes drama Last Night for $4 million. [THR]

Tracy Morgan + David O. Russell = Trouble

Seth — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:35:15 EDT

· David O. Russell's next movie, a romantic comedy called Nailed, adds James Marsden, Catherine Keener and Tracy Morgan to an all-star cast that already includes Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel. As thrilled as we are to see Morgan's movie career graduate to the level of a Russell production, we fear what mayhem might arise from combining the highly combustible auteur and the manically unhinged actor. [THR]
· Overseas audiences love 10,000 B.C.! So much so that Warner Bros. has ordered 9999 more sequels, at which point they'll have Roland Emmerich take a stab at the Nativity Story, in which the baby Savior will fend off bloodthirsty sabre-toothed manger goats. [Variety]
· Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are close to signing Nanny McPhee's Thomas Sangster to play the lead role in their motion-capture Tintin trilogy. Do they really have to make it motion-capture? Nothing good ever comes from motion-capture. Let's just leave it in the early '00s, like we left sundried tomatoes in the '80s. [THR]

· Tony Scott's remake of 1970s subway-hijacking classic The Taking of Pelham One Two Three gets more then just a digitized-title upgrade: it also gets James Gandolfini as the NYC mayor. Unfortunately, it also gets John Travolta. [Variety]
· Jon Heder and Dax Shepard Career Death-Rattle Watch: They both get one last wheeze playing Kristin Bell love interest in When In Rome. [Variety]