Oddball Wins Over Director

The Peter Jackson-produced and Steven Spielberg-directed 3-D performance-capture film The Adventures of Tintin opens in the United States this week just ahead of the film’s New Zealand release. The Adventures of Tintin arrives in the US as an unfolding success story; it opened a full two months ago in Europe and already has grossed $US239 million in worldwide box offices. Though Spielberg secured the rights to make the Hergé movie, the project sat on his shelf for years because it was dogged by a major problem: Tintin’s pooch pal, Snowy. “There was too much demanded from the dog and the risk was too high to go with dog trainers and several look-alike dogs,” Spielberg said. “So I went to Peter’s [visual effects] company, Weta.” The test was eye-opening for Spielberg not just because it showed a dynamic, pixel-produced Snowy cavorting on a pier. Interacting with the dog was Jackson, dressed up as a sea captain, “auditioning” for the role of Haddock. Spielberg’s reaction to the oddball video? “I knew two things: I was going to run away from live-action, but I was also going to run toward Peter Jackson.”