‘SNL’s Taran Killam Joins ‘Twelve Years A … 
Kevin Hart In Talks To Join Kevin James In ‘Valet … 
Anthony Hopkins Up For ‘Red 2′ Villain; Can … 
Cannes Conflicted Over ‘The Paperboy’ As … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘American Idol’ Posts … 
Ghost Of 2004 Hovers Over L.A. Screenings As Int’l … 
On The Road To Awards Season? Kerouac Book Finally Makes It … 
Michael Bay’s Name Pushed Paramount To Settle Injured … 
Several More New Series In Recasting Mode; Returning Ones … 
‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ Moving To March 2013 To … 
Directors Fortnight Says It Must “Police … 
‘Chronicle’ Helmer Josh Trank Takes On … 
Big Media Chiefs Tell Cable Operators To Speed Up ‘TV … 
Will ‘Pan Am’ Take Flight With Amazon? 
EMMYS: Showtime Launches Free Weekend Promotion Targeting … 
TOLDJA! ICM Management Buyout Complete 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Dancing With The Stars’, … 
An Olympian Effort: NBCUni Plans 5,535 Hours Of Coverage … 
Netflix Exec Denies It’s Responsible For Nickelodeon … 
DESPERATE: HuffPo & Oprah Team Up Now 
Hot Trailer: ‘The Great Gatsby’ 
EXCLUSIVE… UPDATE: The plot is thickening on the David Fincher-directed adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the internationally hot Stieg Larsson mystery novel. Of course, with the Swedish film version having made $100+M worldwide so far this year, many quarters are predicting that Sony Pictures will screw up the Hollywood version. Today, the studio set a December 21, 2011 release date for the film — even though the two leads are not locked in. The studio continues talking with Daniel Craig to play publisher Mikael Blomkvist, but sources tell me there’s a scheduling problem for him involving the long delayed next Bond pic and Cowboys & Aliens.
The studio is also signing test deals with a group of young actresses dying to play the complex role of Lisbeth Salander. While Carey Mulligan, Ellen Page, and Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) have been mentioned as possible Lisbeth candidates, I’m told others include Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Sara Snook (Sleeping Beauty), Rooney Mara (The Social Network) and Sophie Lowe (Blame). Some have submitted their own tapes to director David Fincher already, while others will test shortly for the role. It’s a process similar to the one Sony orchestrated before choosing Andrew Garfield to play Spider-Man. Meanwhile, I hear Fincher is telling actresses to working on their Swedish accents, which indicates the novel may not Americanized. The book was adapted by Steve Zaillian and is being produced by Scott Rudin, who just worked with Fincher on The Social Network, also for Sony Pictures.
Loading ...
After seeing a preview of SALT tonight
my dream cast for the remake would be
ANGELINA JOLIE & DANIEL CRAIG !!!!
She could pull that gothy-punk thing she had going
what seems eons ago when she was swapping spit
with billy bob
seriously ANGELINA IS THE ONE!!!
Ugh, not Ellen Page. She is way too obvious for this. I also think Carey Mulligan is the wrong choice.
They should go with Anna Paquin. She would be perfect, plus has a lot of heat from True Blood.
I think you’re onto something, Anna Paquin would rock, she’s 27 so the age is right (Noomi was same age in the first while playing 24).
I am still advocating Kristen Stewart for this role. She has proved she is one bad-ass babe. David Fincher, wherever you are, get yourself to Kristen’s agent pronto!!!
Mr Fincher worked with Kristen S in PANIC ROOM.. so i’m really hoping she gets it!
Kristen would be great but she will be in the midst of filming the abominable last movie of the Saga from November 2010 to March 2011.
Yeah, I’d love to see Stewart take a crack at this. Can’t see why anyone thinks she couldn’t be fierce enough–she was plenty fierce in THE RUNAWAYS. And God knows doing the TWILIGHT series would give _me_ plenty of incentive to play a female character with real personality and chops.
Kristen Stuart’s fans only want to see her play Bella. Twi fans have failed to show up for Runaways. Same goes for Pattinson, he can’t get arrested unless he’s playing Eward.
Worse yet Kristen comes with huge backlack against her; the audience for Dragon Tattoo is the polar opposite of teen girl romances. Regular people loathe the Twi-actors with as much passion as Twihards love them.
The Twi-leads are as Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher; they’ll never do better than Twilight.
Kristen was great in Panic Room but it may take years for her to shake off the taint of Twilight.
May as well cast Zach Efron as Bloomquist.
Browning is the best choice if they make her appear taller (some good boots and camera techniques) and they give her black, long hair and make her look hardcore. She’s rocked black hair before and she can have attitude and she likes to stick things as close to the original as possible. Mia Wasikowska is also a good choice.
Taller?? The character is 4’11″.
As for all of you geniuses advocating for Jolie, on what plane of reality do you imagine she looks 25 years-old (let alone like she’s under 5′ tall)???
Noomi is 5’7″ so she’s not really short. Well, maybe for a Swedish chick.
WHEN WILL HOLLYWOOD STOP WITH THIS ENGLISH WITH A FOREIGN ACCENT CRAP!!!! IT’S THE HEIGHT OF STUPIDITY!!!
yes! 100% agreement with you silm! stop making films with english and foreign accents. it’s dump, dump, dump….
Vat? Zilly, you zay? Vy zat is reedeekulous, zee foreign accent is kompletely konveencing. I prezent examples of Harrison Ford in K-19, Brad Pitt in Devil’s Own and Tom Cruise in Far and Avay. Ve need more of zee accents, much much more!
Anthony Michael Hall as Mikael — check out his performances in The Dead Zone, L.A. Blues. He is a highly underrated actor and he certainly has the look, is the right age, etc.
Of course, giving AMH a chance would mean nobody would go see the movie, I guess….
Oddly enough, Joseph Fiennes has always reminded me of Blomkvist.
You’re right that Anthony Michael Hall wouldn’t get cast as Bloomquist, but wouldn’t he make a very creepy villain? I can see him as the unctuous, smarmy businessman with creepy basement or the evil parole officer.
America has always has to get its grubby and disgraceful hands on anything that might make it some money. It proceeds with arrogance and indifference. It aims for the lowest common denominator–and that’s pretty low. It panders to those with short attention spans and poor educations and ignorant attitudes. It serves up crap (infused with corn syrup wherever possible). We think we can do everything better because everything beyond our borders is inferior. In truth, we have lost touch with reality a long time ago. We are like the mental patient wandering the wards of an asylum thinking ourselves in charge.
On behalf of my association I am presenting you with the Film Snob Award of 2010 for your valient efforts to remove the grubby and ursine fingers of foul American producers from that dainty and delicate oeuvre known as “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”
Our group seeks to blocks any attempt to make any additional movies from this masterpiece and we in fact hope to carve the lofty words of the script onto the side of Rock of Gibraltor.
Donations from likeminded people such as yourself will pay for a shrine cast in gold and covered in rubies depicting the late Steig Larsson hard a work at his laptop in a Swedish Starbucks. We have already secured the Starbucks logo for the project and we hope to break ground on this most hallowed monument in 2048.
While any adaptation is going to leave out and condense details of the novel, the original film changes some details that I just didn’t approve of as a reader. The acting was very good, but the film, for me, was burdened with off-kilter pacing. Let’s hope Fincher uses his surely well over 2 hour running time to correct this and casts appropriately.
I’ve always pictured Blomkvist more like Brenden Gleeson than Daniel Craig, but I’m probably in the minority.
Salander looks like a short, anorexic 16 year old. While there are plenty of those all over the world, all of the actresses mentioned in these comments so far look to old (with the possible exception of Mia Wasikowska).
I pictured Gleeson as the bad guy… I think his name was Martin.
Hal Holbrook for Henrik, Chris Cooper for The Lawyer.
And for Michael, I would have to go with Michael Sheen. Craig isn’t awful casting either.
Kristen Stewart would make a good Lisbeth Salander. She certainly can play edgy–see The Runaways.
teddy
nope, nope I don’t go to USC.
People complain and complain about Hollywood remakes of foreign films, but The Departed was much better than the film it was based on, so it can be done with a good cast and director, and David Fincher is one of the best working directors out there.
Are you kidding??? Infernal Affairs is way better – darker, more emotional and tragic than Departed. Tony Leung’s performance was more subtle, sympathatic than Leo’s. There is no comparison between Anthony Wong’s role and Martin Sheen’s.
Infernal Affairs might not be as polish as the Departed, but it has way more heart than the Goodfellas-lite, one dimensioned Departed. (Prime example: Andy Lau’s multi-dimensioned character dumbed down to that of Matt Damon’s to fit this Leo’s star-driven vehicle).
5’1”, can look 16 at the drop of a hat, can be hard and edgy even though she’s been wasting it in bad romcoms lately…Kristen Bell is a possible for Lisbeth Salander.
I loved Inception. I loved the Girl Who books. I loved the Swedish versions of the first two Girl Who movies. Ellen Page was BORING and bland in Inception. Please find someone out of Europe and introduce an exciting new entity into Hollywood. David Fincher is that man…
I’m sorry, but this remake will tank, NOT because of David Fincher, but because SONY simply doesn’t put out quality product… Unless you’re into Adam Sandler, we miss the 80s nostalgia movies filled with Styx and other songs you grew up to in the late 70s and mid 80s.
Sony doesn’t do well with this kind of film, and Fincher, as great of a director as he is, is foolish for falling in with the “oh we could do this better” crowd. I’m NO film snob by any definition of the term, but I can tell you this, we DON’T need to remake foreign films all the time. It’s stupid, and we lose money most times when we DO it.
Case in point: Point of No Return (the Bridget Fonda show-pony piece)
Here’s a great idea. Just PAY for new intellectual property that hasn’t been done before.
Oh and by the way, SALT IS tanking W.
this remake is so dumb. why is this happening? dumb.
PLEASE PLEASE cast an unknown who can physically pass as the female lead of the book, because the only one on that list who could physically pass as Lisbeth is Ellen Page but I just can’t buy her in that role. Lisbeth’s (lack of) physical presence was so crucial to how she interacts with people or how she goes about her job. This is a rare instance when getting the look of the actress right is just as important as the talent.
Whiskey:
I work in publishing, and I can assure you that these books ARE international bestsellers.
That said, I didn’t care for either of the two I read. There are literally hundreds of superior thrillers published every year. I’ve no idea why these books captured the public’s imagination to the extend they did. Maybe having a hip, punk heroine made reading genre fiction acceptable to ostensibly highbrow readers.
I found the movie version of the first book reasonably well-crafted and entertaining, but I consider Fincher a master of the modern crime thriller. Zodiac, to my mind, is the best thriller of the last five years.
Some intelligent and insightful comments have made me rethink the situation with this remake. Here’s my businessman/artist thoughts:
1) Dragon has already made $ 100 Million worldwide and is still going strong in worldwide theaters.
2) Dragon was Directed by Niels Arden Oplev, an excellent Director
3) Dragon has a convoluted cast of 20 characters- hard to track
4) Scott Rudin has the rights to all three novels.
Why Not Make: The Girl who Played with Fire (Saw it…BADLY done)
1) A B-movie by inexperienced Director Daniel Alfredson (TV guy) only)
2) David Fincher is a SUPERIOR director and would do it right.
2) The Storyline is GOOD and has more action for American tastes.
3) An American version of the second book is an opportunity to make a better movie, make money, and avoid most remake risks.
In a previous life, I was an IBM business development guy. Love screenwriting, BUT it is a $$$$ business to make movies.
God, I Love this damn art of making movies…but we need money.
word on the street says they are considering this chick http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3916139/. never heard of her personally, but then that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s not right for the role. Maybe a completely unknown name would give the Fincher’s version more credit against the original version, instead of coming off as a commercialized blockbuster.
The second biggest mistake Sony could make this year is trying to cast unknown actors in two huge dramatic roles that require real actors, not firstimers.
The first mistake was casting an uknown to play Spider-Man; that’s gonna bite Sony in the rear. Casting stunts generate buzz, but they don’t put butts in the seats.
Don’t really read blogs, but thank god I found this one…very entertaining. I have watched many foreign and american made films and most of the time leave feeling entertained. I love Lisbeth’s character and all three books. I look forward to seeing the swedish films and the american version. If some of my friends don’t like the books or movies I won’t feel any need to berate them. I am happy to hear the swedish films are successful and will be real surprised if the american version is not also a success.
Emily Browning would be amazing choice! She has an unforgettable face. Rooney Mara would be good, too. Wasikowska, Page, and Mulligan are all wrong. The others I don’t know anything about.
I can’t imagine any of those actresses measuring up next to Noomi Rapace. But hey, I couldn’t imagine Charlize Theron as Monster, and it worked out.
Lizzy Caplan would be my number one pick for the role, she has the perfect kind of attitude for it in my opinion. Not to mention the fact that as we’ve seen in True Blood, she looks amazing with no clothes on.
Very true, hadn’t thought of her at all. Would be a huge break for her, and she Lizzy Caplan probably doesn’t get roles because she does have the tough edge; this would be a role that would be perfect for her.
I would think Stephanie Hunt (Devin) from Friday Night lights series. She is from Austin. A singer,musician,actress. Speaks French,Russian,and Spanish. Plays Violin,Guitar,Bass,and Piano. Allready has the black hair,killer eyes and a stud in her nose.
Stephanie Hunt
http://www.colliertalent.com/STEPHANIE.HUNT/hunt.htm
Why use fake Swedish accents on Brits and Yanks instead of just filming Dragon in the US? The novel translates beautifully to any urban setting and the winter scenes fit into upstate New York or rural Chicago, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, take your pic.
Don’t emulate the original so much that there’s no point in seeing it. Have we learned nothing from slavish imitations like the Pyscho remake?
And cast Emma Stone already; there’s no way that cute lil’ Carey Mulligan or adorable Ellen Page could ever play Lisbeth Salander. It would be like casting Shirley Temple.
You might want to check out Hard Candy (2005). Ellen Page will surprise you.