Photo by Eric Roffman
A long search for the perfect young woman to become Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo, in the American/Hollywood version of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, and its two sequels, has ended with the selection of Rooney Mara.
Daniel Craig (aka James Bond -- and possibly separated at birth from Premier Putin) will play the investigative journalist, Mikael Blomkvist.
(Note: There are links to information about the Swedish and American versions of the trilogy, and all the most interesting people involved, at the end of this article.)
David Fincher, who is directing the American version, had said he wanted a relative unknown. Though Rooney Mara is relatively unknown to the public, she was sufficiently well known to the profession to be chosen as one of the Rising Stars of last year's Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) where I had a chance to see her.
At HIFF 2009
Photo by Eric Roffman
(The Rising Stars program has been a rousing success at spotlighting (yes) rising stars. Among the European stars HIFF has honored are Italian Alba Rohrwacher (many important films this year, including "I Am Love"), Hannah Herzsprung (who appeared in "The Reader", and is one of Germany's most popular young actresses) and Anamaria Marinca (from the Cannes prize winner, "Four Months, Three Weeks, Two Days"), all of whom have had fabulous careers in Europe. Rooney's older sister, Kate Mara, as well as Taylor Kitsch from Friday Night Lights, were among the American actors HIFF honored in 2008, and Emmy Rossum was among the stars in 2009.)
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, as everyone knows by now, is the first of a trilogy of books by Swedish writer, Stieg Larsson who, sadly, died before the books became famous. (There was a nice article about the trilogy in Entertainment Weekly - June 18, 2010). Swedish language films were made of the three books, and the first, "...Tattoo", has been exceptionally scuccessful in the US (and around the world) for a foreign language film. It was very well made by Niels Arden Oplev, with Michael Nyqvist, and with Noomi Rapace playing the girl in all three films. The intensity of the experience of playing Lisbeth Salander for three films and more than 18 months, is well captured in an interview with Noomi on the DVD of the Swedish film.
David Fincher, who made The Fight Club, Panic, The Zodiac, and the Strange Case of Benjamin Button, among many films, has taken on the role of directing the three films in English. "...Tattoo" is being written by Steve Zaillian, who wrote Schindler's List, Mission Impossible, and Gangs of New York.
The Swedish film (I haven't read the book yet) is really a very old fashioned detective/mystery/thriller, taking place in rural Sweden, with a plot that could have been written for Sherlock Holmes in rural England. The story is modernized with a more contemporary view of the horrible crimes, and a very contemporary heroine.
Rooney will be appearing in David Fincher's The Social Network (about the founding of Facebook), breaking up with Mark Zuckerberg. The film is scheduled for release on October 1. It has been chosen as the Opening Night selection of the 48th New York Film Festival - NYFF 2010.
She was also in Dare, shown at HIFF last year. Since then she has gained lots of attention in Nightmare on Elm Street.
Rooney said that her older sister, Kate, was a big help to her in getting started in Hollywood. The sisters, by the way, come from a major sports family: they are great-granddaughters of Giants' founder Tim Mara on their father's side, and great-granddaughters of Steelers' founder Art Rooney on their mother's side... (For more about their football heritage, see the Wikipedia article listed below.)
This is indeed a film that could make Rooney Mara a top-flight star. (To do that, she must first rise to the intensity of the character; then, after the three films, she will need to create a new identity for herself. It's not easy being a mega-star.)
Photo by Eric Roffman
IMDB & WIKIPEDIA LINKS
DANIEL CRAIG
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0185819/
WIKI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Craig
ROONEY MARA
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1913734/
WIKI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooney_Mara
KATE, and their FOOTBALL HERITAGE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Mara
DAVID FINCHER, Director
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000399/
WIKI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Fincher
STEVEN ZAILLIAN, Writer
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001873/
STIEG LARSSON, Author
WIKI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stieg_Larsson
MICHAEL NYQVIST
SWEDISH ACTOR: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0638824/
NOOMI RAPACE
SWEDISH ACTRESS: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0636426/
NIELS ARDEN OPLEV
SWEDISH DIRECTOR: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0649117/
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
SWEDISH: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1132620/
AMERICAN: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568346/
THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE
SWEDISH: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1216487/
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST
SWEDISH: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343097/
Photo by Eric Roffman
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