Oscar season officially begins September 1st. And already I hear Hollywood types everywhere discussing the films from Stieg Larsson book The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, they’re wondering aloud if breakout star Noomi Rapace could get an Academy Award for playing Lisbeth Salander. After all, Sweden’s Yellow Bird released the film back in 2009, and the other two pics in the trilogy were made for television and cut down for the big screen. I’ve now confirmed that she is eligible. Because  Music Box Films released director Niels Arden Oplev’s Dragon Tattoo version in a Los Angeles County theater for a qualifying run this past March, thus making Rapace’s performance eligible. I’ve learned that Music Box Films is about to hire an Oscar publicist, probably Melody Korenbrot, to promote Noomi for a Best Actress nomination. That’s right, Best Actress. She’s already won the Swedish equivalency of that for the film. Her new agents at UTA and managers at Magnolia are comparing her to Marion Cotillard, who appeared in a small foreign film, came out of nowhere to be nominated and then win the Best Actress Academy Award, then landed big roles in major studio tentpoles. ”You can have that same journey. You speak English better than she does,” she’s been told.

These are the kinds of Hollywood success stories I love. “She is realizing a dream,” an insider tells me. Since arriving in town over the weekend, Rapace has been taking meetings with a slew of directors, producers,  and studio production execs.” I’m told that, already, Warner Bros’ Greg Silverman wants her for Sherlock Holmes 2, and Paramount’s Marc Evans wants her for Mission Impossible 4. “If it’s not too far along,” one of my insiders explains. So Roomi will head home tomorrow for her 6-year-old son’s birthday on Saturday, then probably get on a  plane and come back to Hollywood next week to meet again with Silverman and MI4‘s Brad Bird.

She’s also sat down with Brett Ratner who just wanted to meet her. Rapace told Ridley Scott (and Scot Free’s Michael Costigan) that she grew up on his films when she left home at 15. She also met with Brad Fischer for the Phoenix Pictures project The Last Voyage Of The Demeter, Jon Amiel on his latest (believed to be titled Masterwork), James McTeigue on The Raven, Tommy Wirkola on Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters, and McG on This Means War. For the latter, McG discussed this juicy villain role.

As an insider told me, “They’re originally meeting her expecting this hard-ass on a Harley wearing leather. But she’s nothing like Lisbeth. They’re shocked to find this unbelievably beautiful and sexy fresh-faced actress with a wonderful sense of humor. So now that’s opening doors for her. They go into the meeting to ask, ‘Do I have a villain? And they leave saying, ‘Do I have a great female lead?’”

Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.

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