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EXCLUSIVE: Every hot young actress in Hollywood wants to play the lead in Sony Pictures’ The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. But will director David Fincher cast one of them — or go with an unknown? This is the studio’s next 3-film franchise based on Swedish author Stieg Larsson’s bestselling Millennium trilogy. It begins with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (there’s a very well-received Swedish version in theaters right now), and continues with The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. So what’s described to me as ”creme de la creme” of young actresses are calling Sony execs as well as producer Scott Rudin and asking if they “can come in for a meeting” about it.
Carey Mulligan, the Oscar nominee from The Education, actually phoned the pic’s writer Steve Zallian and took him to lunch. (Reminds me of that bad joke about the ambitious actress and the writer, but Zallian is also the exec producer.) Juno Oscar nominee Ellen Page wrote a heartfelt note to Rudin. (Her Hard Candy persona is perfect for the part.) Sony execs insist they’re “nowhere near casting”. But Mulligan, Page, Kristen Stewart, Mia Wasikowska, Natalie Portman, Keira Knightley, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Thirlby, and Scarlett Johannsen are all circling.
The problem is that director David Fincher “is not sure if he wants to go with an actress of any note or go with an unknown,” an insider tells me. “David’s process is very specific and private. He’s looking for authenticity and a degree of fierceness and believeability capable of delivering the intensity that the part on the page calls for.” I hear Sony execs think the bestseller itself is such a phenom, and the material so exciting, that the twentysomething female lead doesn’t need a name. On the other hand, they think the male lead does require a star, and the studio is waiting for an answer from Brad Pitt.
EXCLUSIVE: Indian telecoms magnate BK Modi has thrown open the casting for the $40 million Indian epic he’s producing. Director Ashutosh Gowariker is looking for an unknown to play the 500BC Indian prince who became Buddha. Actors have until May 15th … 
Looks like Todd Phillips and Joel Silver were serious about their intention to populate their under-the-radar Warner Bros comedy Project X with a cast of unknowns. They’ve set up the website 
Broadway will be well represented on the musical front in 2011. Add Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which is casting up for a March opening, most likely at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on W. 46th Street. I’m told that West Side … 
The end of the Spider-Man franchise has created new opportunities for Kirsten Dunst. She’s just been set by Lars von Trier to play the lead role in Melancholia that Penelope Cruz was negotiating before she jumped to Pirates of the Caribbean: … 
Taylor Lautner, who usually pines for Kristen Stewart in the Twilight Saga films, has a new romantic screen interest. Lily Collins has landed the job playing Lautner’s love interest in Abduction, the John Singleton-directed Lionsgate thriller that starts production in 12 … 
If you don’t care that Reality TV has become Savage TV, then by all means show up for the CBS series Big Brother 8′s open casting call on Saturday at CBS Radford in Studio City from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. More are … 
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