The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
You would have to be living on another planet to not know of the impending holiday release of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Sony Pictures.
Directed by David Fincher who’s work includes The Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and even The Social Network, among many others… the movie is an American adaptation of the first book in Stieg Larsson’s so called Millennium Trilogy... and certainly one of the most anticipated movies of the year.
As the first book in the series, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo introduces us to Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative reporter who undertakes a private assignment into the 40-year-old disappearance of a young woman from one of Sweden’s wealthiest families.
Filled with the intricacies of Blomkvist’s own life and those of the violent, misogynist, right-wing Vanger family… the book, more importantly, introduces us to Lisbeth Salander… the real star of the trilogy.
Described in The New York Times as an androgynous, punkish, computer hacker… Lisbeth is also said to be… an avenging angel: razor sharp and tough as tungsten, a tiny freak of nature able to bring a man twice her size to his knees…
Psychologist, Dr. Robin Rosenberg goes so far as to suggests that Lisbeth is a classic literary superhero… who experiences posttraumatic growth and throughout the first book transitions to mission… to protector and avenger… much in the way that that Bruce Wayne became Batman or Peter Parker… Spiderman.
Non the less… if you’ve succumb to fandom… you’re well aware that there are already Swedish movie versions of all three of the books and that Lisbeth to date has been defined by actress Noomi Rapace Ra-PAHSS.
Fincher though has chosen 26-year-old Rooney Mara to star as Lisbeth along with Daniel Craig as Blomkvist.
Mara… who you may remember as Mark Zuckerberg’s girlfriend in the very beginning of The Social Network… is, interestingly enough, the descendant of two American football dynasties… she’s the great-granddaughter of Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney, Sr… while her paternal grandfather, Wellington Mara was the long-time co-owner of the New York Giants. She grew up in historic Bedford, NY in Westchester County and graduated from New York University… she is, in addition, the sister of actress Kate Mara… and all in all… a far cry from Lisbeth Salander… which, hopefully, will make her transition all the more interesting…
Aware of the Swedish movies Mara says her focus has been on the book and not Noomie’s prior performance…
Director Fincher, known for his extreme attention to detail, can apparently be a rather contentious character as well… amongst the hype leading up to the release of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo… is his reported anger at David Denby the movie critic at The New Yorker… who apparently jumped the gun and released his review earlier than Fincher had allowed and, in the process, earned himself a ban from any future press viewings of Fincher’s work… non the less, Denby’s review was positive…
The score for the movie was done by Trent Reznor, the Nine Inch Nails frontman and now film score composer, along with his frequent collaborator Atticus Ross. Six of the tracks have already been released for free on the Internet…
The film is due for widespread release on December 21st.
And in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania… I’m Scott Bliss.