Although news broke of Daniel Craig’s casting a while ago, the speculation can now cease as to who will be playing Lisbeth Salander, the female protagonist of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is the first installment of a trilogy of books written by Stieg Larsson. Larsson was a journalist who wrote these in his spare time, but never published them After his death, the books released to high critical praise and enormous popularity in his homeland of Sweden as well as the rest of the world. Three films were quickly made, and the first two have been released in America.
However, barely after the first had hit US theaters, Sony Pictures bought the rights to the books in order to make an American version. David Fincher is directing, with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in the lead roles.
Mara has only a few film credits to her name, with Youth in Revolt, the new A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Fincher’s upcoming The Social Network being the most prominent. It kind of makes sense that an unknown actress like her got the job. Salander is an interesting character that has the potential to be an excellent protagonist that will really take the audience through the story. Mara has little baggage from other roles, and hopefully will really make the character her own, even though Noomi Rapace has already done an outstanding job in the Swedish originals.
With a director of the caliber of Fincher and the acting talent to back it up, this remake has the potential to be an excellent film. Still, I find it odd that the American public is so much against foreign films that a remake is the only viable option to get people to see this great story. Also, I wonder if Fincher will return for the second and third installments as Sony Pictures makes it clear that those are also coming down the road.
