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This Holiday, Director Steven Spielberg Takes Audiences on a Big Adventure! By Marci Miller
Three time Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg, the man who helmed classics like Jaws, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Schindler's List and so much more is back with his first animated, 3D feature, "The Adventures of Tintin", which arrives in theatres on December 21. Produced alongside another famous Academy Award winner, Peter Jackson, Spielberg is excited to bring the comic book adventures of "Tintin" to American audiences this Christmas.
Based on the internationally beloved characters created by Hergé, the story follows the curious young reporter "Tintin" and his fiercely loyal dog Snowy as they discover a model ship carrying an explosive secret. From the high seas to the sands of North African deserts, every new twist and turn sweeps "Tintin" and his friends to escalating levels of thrills and peril.
Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are brought together for the first time as collaborators by their passion for Hergé's tantalizing tales. From the first reading, Spielberg knew that he and "Tintin" were destined for some kind of collaboration. Peter Jackson grew up with "Tintin" and had been influenced by his adventures. As a boy in New Zealand, Jackson devoured each "Tintin" book he could get his hands on, even struggling through the French editions.
Both men saw the cinematic potential of "Tintin". Spielberg first reached out to Hergé as early as 1983, and found the Belgian artist deeply enthusiastic about placing his character in the filmmaker's hands. But tragically, Hergé passed away before the two could meet. Later, his widow, Fanny Rodwell, fulfilled his wishes, granting the rights to Spielberg.
28 years in the making, we had the chance to speak with Steven Spielberg about "The Adventures of Tintin", along with his early influences in film making, fatherhood and much more.
What about making "Tintin" appealed to you? Steven Spielberg: Well the biggest appeal is "Tintin", who is very tenacious and often puts himself in his own stories. He gets into a lot of trouble, he's chasing the bad guys, trying to uncover hidden secrets and unearth hidden treasures. There's always competition against him, either to stop him from succeeding or to at least, steal these things away from him. And in that sense "Tintin" is really a quite straight-laced character but he's surrounded by eccentric bizarre characters like "Captain Archibald Haddock" and the two bumbling "Thompson twins" whose are supposed to be Interpol detectives and "Bianca Castafiore", this opera singer. Everybody has tremendous dimensions and they're funny and they're eccentric and they're bizarre and that contrast alone makes the "Tintin Adventures" really unique.
Steven Spielberg: Well, you know it's interesting; Peter and I are certainly two different people. We share a common sense of humor. And we realize that the same things make both of us laugh and this was a really great project to do as a team. I'm the energetic kind of director and Peter is much more laid back and much more laconic and in a sense, that kind of contrast and energy caused us to have such a great friendship during the making of "Tintin." I haven't had a partner like this since "George Lucas".
Many of your movies are about everyday kids who do extraordinary things. Why do you think you are drawn to these types of stories? Steven Spielberg: I've always been drawn to the empowerment of young people. I just think it's so powerful when a young person suddenly has to take control of the circumstance he finds himself in, and becomes a hero. So it's really interesting to me that lots of my movies had been about young kids who have had these kind of (kinetic) things happen to them and they get to rise above the conditions we put them under to achieve something kind of wonderful. And I think that's where it happens with "Tintin" and that's what happens with my other new film, "War Horse."
How you manage to juggle being a dad to six kids and providing personal attention to your kids with your amazing career? Steven Spielberg: Well the first thing is that I am a good listener and I require my kids to be good listeners too. And my kids say to me "Dad, you know, you are spending too much time at the office." Or "Dad, you know we did not see enough of you this week." And I will always drop everything to meet those needs...that's the priority. My first child was born in 1985 and my entire paradigm changed and everything from that moment on had to do with my kid's well beings and my career suddenly became a second choice. And I do not know how I balance it but they helped me balance it, they really do. And a great thing about having a large family is that the more kids in your family, the more they want to take care of each other. But they always need mom and dad and I am either there with my kids or my wife is there with my kids, but they're never not without both of us.
How much has reading great books influenced your creative process? Steven Spielberg: You know, I'm a dyslexic reader, I was diagnosed six years ago with dyslexia, which I didn't even realize that I had since childhood. So I'm much more involved in visual media but I do read, and I have to read scripts and I have to read books to make determinations if those could be films or not. So as an adult I am reading so much more than I read as a child. I was diagnosed six years ago at Yale by Dr. Sally Shaywitz because I have a child who's dyslexic. When I went in, the doctor recognized dyslexia in me and I took all the tests. But I've accommodated my life to the challenges of dyslexia and I feel very proud of that. I see kids achieve a different balance when they find themselves to be dyslexic.
How have your earliest obsessions shaped your film making? Steven Spielberg: My earliest obsession was "Walt Disney" and the "Mickey Mouse Club" on television and all the animated features he was making. And most of Disney's films scared me. At a young age I was terrified by "Dumbo", "Bambi", "Fantasia"... absolutely terrified by "Fantasia." So, Disney was my first real window into the things that not only delighted me and tickled my imagination but also terrified. And I think my early imagination was a way of taking care of myself when I was so frightened. And when I was a kid, I was frightened by everything. I was frightened by the dark, I was frightened by small spaces, I was frightened by kids who were bigger than me...I was just a scaredy cat. A lot of the movies that I made exorcise those little nagging fears.
It seems like 3D works better in some films than others. How does it work with the "Adventures of Tintin" and what are your thoughts about the future of 3D in Hollywood? Steven Spielberg: 3D is very appropriate for "Tintin" because it's this grand adventure; it goes a hundred miles and hour. And it is really an enhanced type of 3D. I didn't make 3D into a gimmick, and I also don't think 3D is what is going to sell "Tintin" to parents and kids. I think that 3D is just another tool in a very large tool kit that film makers have available to them. And it was my first 3D movie but the movie is just as good in 2D. 3D was a very sweet enhancement but doesn't make the movie. Many of my colleagues would like to see everything in the future shot in 3D, from arts films, to love stories, to big special effects adventure movies but I think 3D has a time and a place. And I really love movies that are in 2D. I would not want to see any of the great classics like "Casablanca" ever converted to 3D because I think the art form of 2D is a miracle. When the skill and talents of a camera man and the director and an art director, put a lot of long thoughtful hours into giving the illusion of dimension just through lighting, and the arrangement of the characters and settings....that's the skill that we hate to see become a lost art.
How did the experience of making "Tintin" compare to all the other films you've worked on? Steven Spielberg: Well, I had more control over "Tintin" that I have had over any of my other film because I did many more jobs including helping light all the sets which I don't usually do. Because this is animation, I can do things over again to get them to be better. I never had such control as over the medium of visual animation and in that sense I haven't had this much fun since making "E.T."
In Theatres December 21! |
