Animator lands Spielberg job with homemade clip

A UK-based animator who made an unofficial title sequence for the new ‘Tintin’ movie got more than he hoped for when his work went viral: a job offer from the film’s director, Steven Spielberg.

James Curran, of SlimJim animation, worked in his spare time on the superb animated title sequence, then posted it online a few weeks before ‘The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn’ came out (it was released on Wednesday).

[See also: Watch our exclusive interview with the 'Tintin' cast]

It got a great response on video hosting-site Vimeo and various blogs, but when people who worked on the film began to circulate the footage, it really took off.

He told Yahoo! Movies: “I got emails from someone who knew the assistant to Peter Jackson, someone who knew Kathleen Kennedy, the producer.

“Then it was passed on to Spielberg, because I got an email from his assistant the other week saying he loved the video.

“He said it was ‘touched by genius’!”

Besides the compliment, the email also had a job offer from the legendary director. James was cagey about what it was, saying it was “early days”, but he’s hopeful it will be one of Steven’s future film projects.

When he got the email, James also got invited to the film’s premiere this week.

“Actually they didn’t invite me, I invited myself! I replied back saying ‘take me to the premiere!’ I thought I might ask.”

Afterwards Edgar Wright, the director of ‘Hot Fuzz’ who also co-wrote ‘Tintin’, tweeted about the job offer and the video went mainstream.

‘So @slimjimstudios does unofficial #Tintin titles http://vimeo.com/30402976, Spielberg sees 'em, gives him invite to prem & job on next movie...’

James said the inspiration for the video was his love for the source material – super-fans will notice references to 23 of the 24 books in the clip.

His animation style, with flat colours and minimalist designs, was also similar to the extravagant CG animation used in the real film, though apparently some who worked on the film told James his version was superior.

“Sometimes simple is better. Mine is more faithful to the source material as well.”

James’ day job is creating animation for TV adverts, but he also makes music videos in his spare time. He hopes this attention-grabbing calling card will get him a lot more work in the movies.

“With the film coming out I saw it as a great chance to do something to help get me noticed and a get a bit of promotion.”

It worked.

To check out more of James’ work, check out his site and Twitter page.