I'd love to play Tintin forever: Jamie Bell

An interview with Hollywood star Jamie Bell (who plays Tintin in "The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn")
In Brussels, DT caught up with Jamie Bell, while he was - quite literally - on the brink of stardom. Bell might have flirted with fame in his initial "Billy Elliot" days, followed by the big-budget blockbuster "King Kong", but is still relatively unknown (In Bell's own words, "I'm a lead in a Speielberg movie, but I can still grab a croissant and a coffee on the streets without being recognized.") But all that's about to change, and Bell knows that only too well.Having landed the role of "Tintin" in Spielberg's and Peter Jackson's "The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn", Bell got a taste of what was coming next at the Brussels and Paris premieres of the movie, where fan-girls sobbed for his attention. The intentional swagger, the answers that carry a hint of that rehearsed quality - it seems that Bell has finally arrived. He sits down for a tete-a-tete with us...
How was it to perform in motion capture technology - the critics have been both harsh and kind so far to the technology previously..
Predominantly bad (laughs) But Steven’s chosen to do a process where he trusts the technology. What both Steven and Peter (Jackson) are good at is - not making it all about the technology. Me going into it personally, I was skeptical, yeah, I still hadn’t seen a version of this technoloy that had really worked or made me feel anything. I really wanted to know how this process works so I started observing behind the scenes of as many motion-capture films as I could and to understand how it works. Which is impossibly, because frankly it look kinds of ridiculous and everyone just looks like...hideous. But while shooting, I performed everything - I think actors own that medium. It’s all about us. It sounds a little selfish, but without that data they record, they don’t have anything. Without the actors, Tintin is a lifeless puppet. He doesn’t move, he doesn’t speak, he doesn’t emote. He just stands there like this (Jamie does a limp pose). It’s a collaborative effort, you want to give them the best performance you can. With real articulation in your face and your eyes, so they really have something to work on. So much of it is imagination, so much of it is created in your own mind. I think you can go and embody anything within that arena. I think its really something that needs to be accepted more in the film community.
Did Andy Serkiss help you out with that, considering he is the most experienced motion-capture artist?
I think he has really pioneered that technology in that we can make characters that can actually make you feel something. I loved Gollum, I loved him, he made me cry. And even recently in the Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes", I think everyone came out of the movie thinking, ‘That monkey’s awesome!’ I think when you work with masters like him, you don’t really ask them questions, you just watch and listen. There is no greater pleasure than watching Andy Serkiss embody another whimsical incredible character. Now he’s like a friend - and he’s so humble. Like literally, and I don’t think there is anything he can’t do. I’ve seen him play a gorilla, I’ve seen him play a rock’n’roll star, I’ve seen him sing - he’s a director too. He is super multi-talented! I think he makes a great Haddock. And Tintin is nothing without Haddock, the books have a great adventure or a great villain but when Haddock enters the picture, Tintin has this actual purpose, his purpose is to parent this child!
In what way did you use your dancing skills in the movie?
It wasn’t much about dancing, it was more about having an informed body, in a way that was expressive. I wasn’t necessarily trying to dance. But I am pretty sure there is a motion-capture video of me tap-dancing as Tintin somewhere...
But Tintin as a character, he’s always moving, he’s always doing something intensely dynamic. Herge always drew a character who was constantly in motion. Steven too always wanted to find someone who had an expressive side physically as well as be able to bring out all the sensibilities of the characters.
Did you audition for the part?
Yeah I was in New Zealand with Peter, because I was already working with Peter. So I was down there and it was kind of scary because I walked into the studio and they said, ‘Here’s your helmet’ and I said, ‘Helmet? What are we doing here?’ And then they said, ‘This is the set’ and I said, ‘Where’s the set? There’s nothing here!’ But I loved it so quickly, I mean, I got into it so quickly. I think I always fantasized about that kind of a medium honestly, Even in those plays in high school, when I was a kid, I would walk down the halls trying to engage with things that weren’t there. And stupid things like, “okay be rock!’ and you’d be a rock and stuff like that. But I loved that, the inventiveness, being immersed in the experience of having nothing to use but your mind.
Did you ever think that you might not be right guy to play Tintin?
Not a question I can answer because, I didn’t cast myself - it’s more a question for Steven and the team but I don’t know I grew up with Tintin was a big fan of him, I don’t know... It was my version of Tintin, someone else’s might be completely different.
I wanted to be a version that was true to the books.
You have worked in several genres of movies. Do you plan to continue doing the same?
I’d just like to keep doing what I am doing, working with good people, I don’t really have a plan. I’ve been very fortunate. I am 25 now, there’s no strategy in this business. no tactic that I can follow, there’s no blueprint.
Hopefully you can play Tintin forever...
If I can play Tintin forever, I’d be really happy.
Are you prepared for the fame that will come along that?
I can now go get myself a coffee and croissant without being recognised, and I’d like to maintain that for as long as possible. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize that. So I’ll enjoy this for as long as I have this, if fame comes then great, if it doesn’t, great, because I like it the way it is.