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EXCLUSIVE: Daniel Craig has closed his deal to play journalist Mikael Blomkvist in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, a deal which factors in options for two sequels based on The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest. The novels comprise the bestselling trilogy by late Stieg Larsson.
Deadline told you first about the Craig talks, which back in June were hardly a certainty, because there were so many hurdles to jump. I’m told that with a whole lot of juggling between three studios, Craig will be able to make the movies. Essentially, he will begin work on the first film in Sweden, as soon as he removes his cowboy hat from shooting Cowboys and Aliens in the early fall. Scheduling was coordinated between Dragon Tattoo-maker Sony Pictures Entertainment, DreamWorks partners Stacey Snider and Steven Spielberg–who were flexible on the Cowboys and Aliens schedule–and James Bond rights holders Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson. The latter situation was tougher because of the uncertainty over when the next Bond film will get made–probably with Sam Mendes directing–because of MGM’s paralysis. CAA made Craig’s deal.
This puts Craig in a position no previous James Bond ever was in. He’s got two certain franchises between Bond and the Larsson books, and possibly another in Cowboys and Aliens, which he stars in with Harrison Ford, and for which Craig has an option on a second picture. Comic-Con crowds responded glowingly to footage shown by director Jon Favreau.
Sony Pictures Entertainment, director David Fincher and producer Scott Rudin are in the middle of casting the young actress who’ll play the juicy role of Lisbeth Salander. Deadline previously released those candidates include Ellen Page, Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland), Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Sara Snook (Sleeping Beauty), Rooney Mara (The Social Network) and Sophie Lowe (Blame).
Sony just dated the film for a December 21, 2011 release. Steve Zaillian adapted the novel for the screen.
Daniel Craig in ‘Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ Mix?
Sony Pictures Skeds ‘Girl With The Dragon Tattoo–But Two Leads Not Set Yet
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You know, I thought the Swedish films were good enough you know? I dont think these films will be that successful considering they are already made and being released now in the US. Kind of pointless you know? I hope they are not giving the film a big budget, or they’ll be sorry!
The 1st swedish adaption was very, very good, the 2nd was not. The 2nd had fine acting from the leads, but it had such an amateurish feel to it. It felt overlong in parts that added nothing to the movie. The fight in the barn alone just came off horribly, and lacked realism. Plus the movie just sort of ends. In the end it felt like a bad police procedural and lacked the fierceness and tone of the 1st. I have not read the books, so maybe the 2nd flick was spot on, but it needed to be at the same level of the 1st at least. I have yet to see the 3rd movie, but the trailers look promising. I think Fincher can add quite a bit to the movies, and look forward to seeing his vision on the screen.
I just have a bad feeling about this. Ive seen movies in this situation flop a lot of the time!
You know what, usually this is exactly this kind of thing that pisses me off, but having seen the other two films I get the feeling that they have become incredibly lazy, from both a writing and directing point of view, because I can’t escape the feeling that (at least with the second two) that they are assuming that the audience has read the books and so it seems to be little more than a summary of the books. Having said that, aside from Blomkvist and Salander, a lot of the casting has been, frankly, terrible.
I agree, I saw the Swedish version not even a month ago and I can’t imagine “Hollywood”‘s version could top it in any way, particularly the more violent scenes, which they will most likely be afraid to recreate for fear of some public outcry. Contrary to our mass ego, Americans don’t always do everything better.
That’s great news for DC (Mr. Craig)! Even if the mess over UA and a next ever James Bond is not resolved, we’ll have the next best thing with these 2 upcoming features. He may or may not be the greatest ever Bond, you have to admit that he has been good and sometimes VERY good in all of his pictures. Congrats to him and his “team” on good career choices so far.
Awesome—I’ll go see if since he’s in it.
Dragon Tattoo/Larsson is not a “franchise” Mike. The Vince Flynn novels or Brad Thor novels have spent longer periods on the NYT best-seller lists and sold more books. All dwarfed by the Twilight and Harry Potter series of course.
If you want a hierarchy, its JK Rowling->Stephanie Meyer->Vince Flynn->Brad Thor->Stieg Larsson.
The character in the novels does not look like Daniel Craig, more like Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Any attempt to make this into a movie is likely to fail the way Watchmen did. A young actress, paired romantically with Daniel Craig? For the Twilight crowd that’s a bridge too far. Johhny Depp or Leonardo Di Caprio would be more like it. The female lead, psychopathic, man-hating, semi-lesbian, and a sex worker, is not exactly the girl the hero risks everything for (so the appeal to male-skewing thrillers is about zero).
This seems as stupid as Polanski’s “the Ghost Writer.” Yes, it had Brosnan and Ewan McGregor. Against a budget of $45 million plus $30 million for marketing, it made $15 million domestically and and $37 foreign. Look at the Limey — a BRILLIANT film with perhaps the best performance out of Terence Stamp. It made $3 million against a budget of $10 million in 1999. Soderbergh is a gifted, often brilliant director. The script was outstanding, with supporting actors like the gifted Peter Fonda absolutely brilliant. It still failed.
Hollywood just can’t understand the audience. They’re not like them. The audience is not as rich, not as concerned with moral preening, not as concerned with moral status, not as concerned with status-jockeying. They want Sex and the City or Dark Knight or Twilight. Dark Knight, a parable about terrorism, did half a million domestically and nearly as much abroad, with “only” a production cost of $185 million. Guys wanted to see Bin Laden get his in the guise of the Joker. They still do.
Craig’s a good actor. He was brilliant in Layer Cake. No matter how well this gets executed, its likely to come in between the Limey and Ghost Writer. This is coming from someone who thinks Luis Guzman and Peter Fonda should have shared an Oscar that year for Best Supporting Actor.
The audience doesn’t like moral preening but they liked The Dark Knight as a parable about terrorism? That makes no sense. And if they want Sex and the City, why did the last one fail?
And Depp is five years older than Craig.
The Mikael Blomkvist in the novels might have been modeled after the authors own pudgy image, but he is an unstoppable womanizer in the books – something that at least I would have a hard time buying from Mr. Hoffman. Craig is a good choice.
Did you read the book? Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the last person I’d want to see play the part. You seem to have a lot of time on your hands.
Whiskey’s just angry that the original Swedish title of the book was “Men Who Hate Women.” Whiskey was hoping to use that title for his autobiography.
What is it with you and this book/movie? This is virtually the same garbage you posted in a similiar thread last week.
Why do powerful women, little black kids, and Jim Cameron frighten you so much?
Because Whiskey thinks pop culture should reflect what he fears–and should be only about the manly-men he can never be. He has no life outside of pop culture, so he insists the latter is what he demands it should be. I’ve seen stunted fan boys before, but this guy takes the cake.
I’m pretty sure Whiskey has no idea what he’s talking about. It’s flawed logic to say it’s not successful because other books are more popular. The 3 books have been out for what, five years or so?
Nor is Blomkvist at all like Hoffman – he is ribbed for being a bit pudgy later on, but he also spends the whole first book running regularly. He also nails anything that moves and will have him, which is every woman in the book series, basically.
Anyway, Whiskey just posts dumb or antagonistic comments so that it drives traffic to his pitiful website.
@ whisky
“The female lead, psychopathic, man-hating, semi-lesbian, and a sex worker, is not exactly the girl the hero risks everything for (so the appeal to male-skewing thrillers is about zero).”
Wow, have you even read the books? Salander isn’t, and never was, a sex worker. Nor is she ‘man-hating’ – she has a deep, and understandable mistrust of people in authority (gender-irrelevant), due to the appalling mistreatment she suffered whilst ‘in the system’. It’s true she hates men who hate women, but then, doesn’t everyone?
The dynamic between Blomqvist and Salander is magnetic, it is precisely the unlikelihood of their relationship (and the fact they would never have met under ‘normal circumstances’), that makes it so delicious, and so to say that Salander “is not exactly the [kind of] girl the hero risks everything for”, rather betrays your own misogyny, perhaps? I rather think that, if auditions were held for ‘your kind of girl’, there wouldn’t be many showing up.
At any rate, it could be argued that Salander is the heroine of this book, not Blomqvist the hero, a concept which seems to have passed you by. Perhaps too highbrow? ;o)
In school, we were taught that Man evolved from the caves into the intelligent, amazing beings we see today. In Whisky’s case, there is a link very definitely missing…………
The Dark Knight made over one billion total revenue, not “half a million domestically and nearly as much abroad”
Actually this movie will be semi-huge over here. Im a native New Yorker living in NYC, which is an epicenter of movie geeks, and this film will do 150+ million during its run here. I agree American filmmakers often butcher remakes, and my fave directors are Danny Boyle, Neil marshall and Christopher Nolan so Im not biased towards American film in any way shape or form, but the books were so big ehre that interest alone will generate 100 million or more. Personally, I think the books were highly overrated…a good read but almost as much of a letdown as Da Vinci Code. I am also a huge reader, classic and current (reading Cronin’s The Passage right now) and I have never heard of the Flynn or Thor books, so I would put this trilogy after Potter and Twilight as most popular stateside currently. Nothing will match Potter though…it got millions of people to start reading again. Twilight doesnt even get published if it wasn’t for JK setting the standard for sequel based series. Also, another great series is A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. It will be on HBO in December, so go read it now people…it’s like Lord of the Rings but way more accesible. Catch it before it becomes ‘household’.
“The female lead, psychopathic, man-hating, semi-lesbian, and a sex worker, is not exactly the girl the hero risks everything for (so the appeal to male-skewing thrillers is about zero).”
You obviously haven’t read any of these books. You would think you were listening to Hans Faste. Sheesh.
So is Ellen Page going to star opposite Daniel Craig?
Daniel Craig will be fantastic in this. Can’t wait.
mia wasikowska was amazing in “In Treatment” and had great box office success with “Alice”; she should get the role
Really? Since when is a trilogy a three part sequel?
If one has actually read the books and seen the first two movies in Swedish (third one not yet released in US) one would realize the “adaptation” is uninspired and pedestrian – page for page with very very minor tweaking. I would be very curious to see what an actualy screenwriter with experience adapting novels to the screen would do with the material.
Daniel Craig is perfect. Philip Seymour Hoffman – are you insane? And by the way the girl is a world class hacker – maybe I missed the career change into a sex worker – or is that how “whiskey” thinks a sexually abused and brutalized woman is best described.
And the audience? These books are driven by FEMALE (yes we can buy our own tickets) audiences who are sick of the normal skanky blonde running around semi clothed. Oh, sorry, Angelina had dark hair in her last movie.
Hear hear!
Damn straight.
Well, as long as they’re not making new Bond movies, he might as well be doing these. Got to keep himself busy.
Still, I hope they sort out that mess called MGM. They’ve got two big properties (Bond and The Hobbit) in their possession and they can’t even get those movies made. That’s just plain amateurism.
i’m still not sure about turning this book into a movie. the swedish adaptation was too dense (mainly because the books are quite dense themselves). i just don’t see how you can remain true to the book by including the exposition/background without affecting the pacing. i feel like this may be one of those books that probably shouldn’t be turned into a movie.
Craig is a good choice, but the women mentioned as the final five on other sites wouldn’t draw me across the street, let alone into a theater. The one thing we have in this industry is a surplus of well-known and talented actresses. Going the “unknown” route is dangerous. Fincher’s greatest hit was Se7en, with two big names and up-and-comers in a supporting roles. He should stick to what worked before (while bringing his twisted style to the story itself.)
Your right of the feeling of the rumored actresses. They would be fine in a Twilight type movie but nothing I would expect to see in a R one. I think its in the casting that would also get the attention of the European along with the Asian movie goers to bring this along. This movie will flop if just pandering to the teen American girls.
So true; they basically had Daniel Craig for lunch and handed him the part along with a lovely shrimp salad. Meanwhile the girls were lined up against the wall and measured like slabs of meat.
Stieg would have been so proud, sniff!
Whiskey, I want to be friends with you. Your exegesis is brilliant and spot on.
Still pissed that they eliminated Carey Mulligan from consideration. She’s the best young actress out there.
This puts Craig in a position no previous James Bond ever was in. He’s got two certain franchises between Bond and the Larsson books, and possibly another in Cowboys and Aliens.
And yet ironically, he’s actually had less success outside of Bond than his predecessors. Roger Moore (The Wild Geese; Cannonball Run), Timothy Dalton (The Rocketeer), and Pierce Brosnan (The Thomas Crown Affair) all had at least one big hit during their time as 007.
But so far, Craig has been unable to parlay Bond’s worldwide recognition into bigger box office. Remember, he was also signed to bring the His Dark Materials trilogy to screen- until The Golden Compass failed at the domestic box office. This, despite a major marketing push which highlighted Craig’s reunion with Bond co-star Eva Green. Even The Invasion- a sci-fi film gifted with a prime summer weekend- failed to attract the fanboy demographic.
Id like to see bridgette fonda play her!
Jon Favreau had better pull a big one out of his ass to make me want to sign off on this.
Bridget Fonda isn’t a ridiculous idea – not like PSH for Blomkvist. I’ve been a huge fan, but I’m afraid she’s too old (46) for the role of someone who still hasn’t battled their way out of the legal guardianship problems Lisbeth deals with at her age in the books – somewhere between 25-27.
Craig is certainly older than I had in my mind’s eye, but it’s not at all a ridiculous move, or one traitorous to the book. Ellen Page really wouldn’t suck. Wasikowska was also an intriguing idea-I’m VERY curious why that seems to be so dead, dead, dead and out of consideration. Looking forward to hearing about casting for Berger (Ideas run the gamut from Keener, through …well, Bridget Fonda!) Then there’s eventually Zalachenko, the lawyer and the psychiatrist Teleborian and Wennerstrom.
I’m for Stephanie Hunt to play Lizbeth. Your going to have to go to the cable actresses to get a comparable actress to Noomi.
David Fincher is directing. And its in Sweden. Not sure what people have to complain about..
Good pick for Blomkvist, in my opinion – I’ve liked Craig since the first movie I saw him in. I’m really hoping they go with Ellen Page. She’s right physically and I’d love to see what she did with the role.
I say get the original actress in the American remake. She can speak English, and did awesome in the part.
I agree get the original actress that play lisbeth in the swedish version.
I have read all three books and eagerly await the fait of the unfinished fourth. As soon as I heard that Daniel was playing thought a great choice and the first name that came to mind was Ellen Page she has the chops and right dead pan to pull off Lisbeth
Daniel Craig seems to be the perfect choice…my entire book club of 30-something Connecicut women have just spent the day trading Facebook messages about how we will be lining up to see this when it opens. This has never happened with any other movie for this group of ladies so far…Craig is an inspired choice! Consider us market research from back East.
Thora Birch. What’s she been up to?
I would love to see Thora Birch or Juliette Lewis as Lisbeth and Nicolas Cage or Johnny Depp as Blomkvist. Daniel is a good actor, but he is too much the Bond-type. Hopefully, Fincher will give his best… This project needs special personalities. It will be hard to beat the swedish movie (possibly impossible).
Fincher has a strict rule of no big names, no girl over 24 or more than 5 feet 4 inches tall. I’m sure there are more restrictions than that, but that means no Thora, and no Juliette, who are both too old and probably too tall according to Fincher.