The Tintin Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are searching for may have been found, according to British media: 17-year-old doe-eyed British actor Thomas Sangster, who has appeared in “Love, Actually” and “Nanny McPhee.”

Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson were excited to announce last year that they would collaborate on two of three upcoming movies based on beloved Belgian cartoon hero Tintin, created by the Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, better known as Hergé.

The role of the young Belgian reporter may go to 17-year-old British actor Thomas Sangster, who has appeared in movies such as “Love Actually,” “Nanny McPhee” and “The Last Legion.”

The Daily Mail was first to report that the teenage thesp has the part. Sangster next works on “Bright Star,” directed by Jane Campion, a love story about John Keats and his lover Fanny Brawne, the Mail adds.

A spokesman for Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio has declined comment. Sangster’s London agent also refused to confirm the news to the Mail.

DreamWorks has been generally discreet about the Tintin trilogy. Spielberg will direct the first film while Jackson will handle the second. The third one remains to be assigned to a director.

The team will use 3-D performance-capture technology, made possible through Jackson's New Zealand-based effects house, Weta Digital. Jackson said the movie characters will look very similar to the original, but they wouldn’t be cartoonish.

“We're making them look photo-realistic - the fibers of their clothing, the pores of their skin and each individual hair. They look exactly like real people - but real Hergé people,” the director said last May.

While Sangster’s involvement remains uncertain, it is known that Andy Serkis has been cast as Tintin’s sidekick Captain Haddock.

Filming for the first film begins this fall. The first installment is expected in 2009.

Hergé’s comic books have been especially popular in Europe and have sold over 200 million copies worldwide. Throughout his adventures, described in 23 books published between 1929 and 1976, he is joined by companions such as Captain Haddock, Bianca Castafiore, Nestor, Cuthbert Calculus and Rastapopoulos.

Image credit: thomassangster.com