"Everyone knows Tintin!" says a street hawker in the film "The Adventures of Tintin" — but 30 years ago director Steven Spielberg had no idea who or what he was.
The first installment of Spielberg's "Indiana Jones" franchise, "Raiders of the Lost Ark," opened in Europe in 1981 to rave reviews; it was in these reviews that the director encountered Tintin's name for the first time, as the adventurous Indiana was compared to the globe-trotting boy reporter.
Curious to know the identity of Indiana's rival, Spielberg got his hands on some Tintin comic books (which have been translated into 80 languages and have sold more than 350 million copies worldwide) and was immediately captivated. In 1983, he got on the phone with "Tintin" creator Herge (the singular pen name of Belgian Georges Remi), who at the time was in his 70s. Spielberg broached the subject of a Hollywood adaptation of the story. Herge agreed with alacrity, but unfortunately died before the project reached the launchpad.