Since Bob De Moor wanted to complete the unfinished “Tintin and Alph-Art” album, but was refused to do so in the end, we thought that this particular newsbit might interest more than just one reader (and that’s probably an understatement).
Note: It’s not the intention to start posting Tintin news on this website, but when it’s relevant to Bob De Moor, we will.
The Belgian edition of Paris Match (8 – 14 May) has an interview with Fanny Rodwell, the wife of the late Hergé , and although it’s one of the very rare Fanny Rodwell interviews, it was as a direct hit. Yes, the interview is worthy of a headline that has already made it to the Belgian-French speaking Tintin world in record time, and will soon reach the English-speaking fans as well.
The interview, done by Emmanuelle Jowa, is quite an interesting read (and accompanied by rather nice pictures of Fanny Rodwell), although it’s mainly human interest-minded – it’s for Paris Match, after all. You’ll learn for instance that Fanny Rodwell eats meat while her husband Nick Rodwell is a ‘végétalien’. Yes, with an ‘l’, which means he is a die-hard vegetarian. Not really information one would call interesting. But after one page of more small talk, Fanny Rodwell says a few things which are more interesting, with the no-bomb falling on page 68.
Fanny Rodwell is very clear: there will be no new album of Tintin, not now, not in 2017, not in 2050, not in 2053 and not in 2054. In short, there will never again be a new Tintin album, “Out of the question” she even says further on in the interview when the journalist keeps insisting. However, that doesn’t exclude unfinished albums such as the “Thermozero”, of course, as we all know by now since that option is currently being studied by Moulinsart and Casterman.
It’s interesting to see that Fanny Rodwell is very laid back when it comes to the future of Tintin. Regarding possibly losing Tintin to the public domain she says: “That’s life, it’s like that. And anyway, I will no longer be alive by then.” She continues by saying that society might again have changed by then and “maybe Tintin will no longer be in the mind of the youngsters (…) he may be forgotten by then.“
From the interview we also learn that she has no info on when the next Tintin film by Steven Spielberg will be released and that she is pretty sure that the first film wasn’t a big commercial success “or Spielberg would have already started with the next one“. When asked who she considers to be as talented as Hergé she names Paul Cuvelier and Jacques Laudy.
To be continued…