mct16:
it should be fascinating and very in-depth.
Very kind! I'm anticipating about 90 seconds of screen-time (if that), so we'll see!
mct16:
Curious that they chose "Soviets" as their main subject. Any particular reason for that?
Yes! Quite simply it was a book which Frank, although a fan of the series (a love of Tintin led to him becoming a reporter) only discovered fairly recently.
Not having kept abreast of developments, he missed its late arrival in English in 1989, and when he finally saw it, it made him realize that he knew little about how the series came to be, or why Hergé would send Tintin on this particular trip.
It wasn't intended to have any relationship to the film,
per se.
Frank also perhaps felt that very nature of the book, as an example of Hergé's juvenalia, if you will, made using it to track his progress to a master of his trade all the more interesting.
mct16:
First it was Hergé's own brother
Undoubtedly the pattern for Tintin physically.
mct16:
then some Danish schoolboy
A spurious hypothesis to my way of thinking: to me, Palle Huld was more like a coincidental copy of Totor than any inspiration for Tintin. I'm definitely not convinced.
mct16:
we even had some far-right extremist reporter who claimed he was the model.
That would be the self-aggrandizing Rexist leader, and erstwhile contemporary of Hergé in right-wing Catholic publishing, Léon Degrelle. He made all claims to this years after the event, and in contradiction to Hergé's assertions that Paul was his model. Although they did know each other, I believe that Hergé took legal action against him when Degrelle used an image of his for a Rexist Party poster, so they weren't on good terms.
Degrelle was the leader of the Walloonian brigade of the Waffen SS, so he may have been aware of Lucien Peperman, who was the
Soviets-era stand-in for Tintin on his return from Russia.
Quite frankly, a nutter.
mct16:
Now it is a photojournalist.
This has been around for a few years, and appears to have a bit of merit to it. It doesn't actually refer to him being a physical model. Sexé was a well-respected photo-journalist, who undertook major journeys by motor-bike. The claim of a connection is based on the fact that he made trips to the USSR, the Congo and America, in that order, accompanied by his mechanic (a chap by the name of Milhoux).
Photos from his trips appear to have served as reference for several of Hergé's drawings. Hergé's own reference library post-dates
Soviets, but it is assumed that he could/ would have had access to material from the
Vingtième paper's library; the programme will look at the claim, and seek evidence for it amongst Sexé's pictures.
mct16:
Like James Bond, the "original Tintin" appears to be one never-ending list.
It looks like he'll remain elusive, but at least the film makes an attempt at homing in on the sources!