In parallel with Peter Jackson’s project (constantly postponed), director Patrice Leconte was working on an adaptation of the Tintin album “Les Bijoux de la Castafiore”. The film will unfortunately not see the light of day.
Thirteen years after Steven Spielberg’s very successful Secret of the Unicorn, Tintin almost returned to the cinema. Not on the side of Peter Jackson, whose project to adapt the diptych The Seven Crystal Balls / The Temple of the Sun no longer shows signs of life, but of… Patrice Leconte.
In October 2020, the director of Les Bronzés claimed to have the agreement of the rights holders of Hergé, creator of Tintin, to adapt Les Bijoux de la Castafiore on the big screen. And certain actors, including the singer’s interpreter.
There were then many details to be resolved, the main one being to convince Paramount, the holder of the film rights.
Less than four years later, disappointment may be in store for Tintin fans. Or Patrice Leconte. Or both: “It fell through…”declared the director to Here is.
“Moulinsart sold all the rights to Hergé to Paramount. And as Peter Jackson is currently working on The 7 Crystal Balls and The Temple of the Sun, I was made to understand that it was dead for Les Bijoux. “
Peter Jackson’s film still relevant today?
A last sentence which should not fail to provoke a reaction. Because it suggests that Peter Jackson’s film, which he seems to want to postpone until it is no longer possible, is still in the works.
Unlike the feature film that Patrice Leconte was preparing. Which should only accentuate the disappointment of Tintinophile fans by revealing part of the casting he had in mind.
Alain Chabat as Captain Haddock?
“I wanted to make it an arty film, very close to the comic strip, and entrust all the roles to well-known actors, except that of Tintin. I could see Alain Chabat in Captain Haddock, Valérie Lemercier in Castafiore, François Damiens as Séraphin Lampion…”
While he is preparing an animated series around Asterix for Netflix, Alain Chabat almost distinguished himself in another work from French-speaking pop culture. After Mission Cléopâtre, Le Petit Nicolas or even Valérian, in which he played an ersatz Captain Haddock, in a space and futuristic version.
EuropaCorp Distribution Alain Chabat in “Valérian”
If it is not difficult to imagine him in the skin of Tintin’s sidekick, played by Andy Serkis in performance capture by Steven Spielberg, today there is little chance of this coming to fruition. Unless Peter Jackson abandons his film, and leaves the field open to Patrice Leconte for his.