Andy Serkis has a new precious: Tintin.
The actor best known for his behind-the-scenes work for Peter Jackson as the computer-generated Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and the titular ape in King Kong is set to reunite with Jackson and Steven Spielberg's highly anticipated trilogy based on Georges Remi's bestselling comic.
Jackson and Spielberg are tag-teaming on the planned trilogy, with Jackson taking the reins on the inaugural film and Spielberg the second entry. No word yet on who is helming the third installment.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Serkis plays the part of Captain Haddock, Tintin's quick-tempered mentor. DreamWorks declined to comment on the casting.
Jackson and Spielberg culled three stories from the original The Adventures of Tintin books, which Remi wrote under the pen name Hergé, for the big screen.
While relatively obscure to most Americans, Tintin has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide and been translated into over 50 languages. The strip follows a fearless, globe-trotting, weirdly coiffed Belgian reporter who fights crime with his trusty Fox Terrier, Snowy, and a host of oddball pals, including Haddock, absent-minded Professor Cuthbert Calculus, opera diva Bianca Castafiore and bowler-wearing, blundering twin cops Thomson and Thompson.
Tintin will get the full blockbuster treatment, including state-of-the-art performance-capture technology that Jackson and his New Zealand-based effects house, WETA Digital, pioneered with Rings and Kong.
The trilogy will also be produced and released in digital 3-D.
No other casting decisions have been announced.
Jackson is slated to begin shooting his Tintin turn next September, after he wraps work on his current project, an adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestselling novel, The Lovely Bones.
Meanwhile, there's still no verdict on whether Jackson and New Line will work out an accord to have him helm The Hobbit. Jackson has sued the studio over LOTR royalties.
It's believed that if an amicable settlement can be worked out, Jackson will at least produce the LOTR prequel, and Serkis would presumably be back as Gollum.
Serkis, meanwhile, was just nominated for a Golden Globe for his flesh-and-blood supporting role in the HBO TV movie Longford.
His other upcoming projects include Inkheart, a family adventure costarring Brendan Fraser, Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent, and the British television drama Einstein and Eddington.