In the end, Bell realized that there were no answers to his questions, and perhaps that's the point. The fact that Tintin is a blank slate is central to his appeal.
"The reason he's so successful is because he's a mystery," Bell said. "The more he's a mystery, the more you can project what you want him to be, or what you want to be. For me as an actor researching this, you can't answer those questions. It's not my responsibility."
So he left all the good lines to his boisterous (and frequently inebriated) pal Captain Haddock and concentrated on the simplicity of his role as humble hero. Along the way, he was drawn to what Tintin most obviously is - a man of action.
"Tintin is a very physical character," he said. "The way Hergé drew him, he is always very much on the move. When he thinks about something, he strikes a pose; and when he's down talking to (his dog) Snowy, he's in a very specific position.
"For me, it was about creating that sense of dynamics through a physicality that was explosive. Being a dancer for so long definitely helped."
Bell has danced since the age of 6, getting his acting start as a boy ballerina in the 2000 film Billy Elliot. He used that experience on the set, which Spielberg had plastered with Tintin images.
"We would look at panels from the comic book and go, 'Let's do that pose now,' " Bell said. "Those physical elements were crucial to the entire makeup of the character."
It was all part of the bigger picture, which was paying tribute to the man behind the original Tintin stories.
"(Spielberg) wanted it to be a Hergé adventure, nothing else," Bell said. "I think that's what he did, in his own way. I think as filmmakers - as artists, as composers of images - Hergé and Steven are not too dissimilar."
