Jamie Bell - Jamie Bell To Play Tintin Opposite Daniel Craig's Villain

British actor JAMIE BELL has landed the lead role in STEVEN SPIELBERG's movie adaptation of schoolboy cartoon hero TINTIN. The Billy Elliot actor will appear alongside James Bond star Daniel Craig, Toby Jones, MACkenzie Crook and Shaun of the Dead co-stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.

Studio giants Paramount and Sony announced the casting on Monday (26Jan09), when principle photography on the project began.

The story is based on Belgian Georges 'Herge' Remi's tales of an intrepid young reporter, which were first released in 1929 and have been a huge worldwide success ever since.

007 star Craig will play villain Red Rackham.

The movie, expected to be the first in a Tintin series, is slated for release in 2011.

Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is producing the first movie, and he's expected to step into the director's chair for the sequel