The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Any adult who has not read any of the novels in Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander trilogy, which begins with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, is rather like a child who has not read any of the novels in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

This analogy fairly indicates what a literary phenomenon Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, which also includes The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, has become. And as one who normally has no interest in fiction, I can attest to the fact that they are all thrilling reads.

It’s just too bad Larsson never got to enjoy any of this success. He died of a sudden heart attack before the first book was published….

Naturally, as was the case with Harry Potter, a movie adaptation of each Lisbeth Salander novel is being planned. In fact, I’ve already seen the Swedish version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – complete with subtitles, and gave it two thumbs up. But even the executors of Larsson’s estate knew that only a Hollywood adaptation will do his novels (commercial) justice.

And so the search was on to cast the two main characters who drive this trilogy: Mikael Blomqvist, a disgraced journalist turned private investigator (based loosely on Larsson himself) and Lisbeth Salander, a troubled computer hacker who, ironically, acts more like Sherlock Holmes with Blomqvist as her Watson.

Indeed, Lisbeth is the star.  And here, for a little tease, is how Michiko Kakutani, of the New York Times, described her character:

Lisbeth Salander, Stieg Larsson’s fierce pixie of a heroine, is one of the most original characters in a thriller to come along in a while – a gamin, Audrey Hepburn look-alike but with tattoos and piercings, the take-no-prisoners attitude of Lara Croft and the cool, unsentimental intellect of Mr. Spock. She is the vulnerable victim turned vigilante; a willfully antisocial girl . . . who has proved herself to be as incandescently proficient as any video game warrior.

(Books of the Times, May 10, 2010)

Incidentally, I see no point in giving away any of the plot; except to say that the way Lisbeth exacts revenge on her state-appointed guardian – who brutally raped her – is truly inspired … and instructive.

Anyway, given the trilogy’s popularity, it was hardly surprising that every actor in Hollywood used every trick of the trade to win this coveted gig. I gather that the consensus among those who have actually read the books is that it would have been best to cast relatively unknown actors to play these parts.

I actually thought it would’ve been best to cast the actors from the Swedish version: They were brilliant.  Besides, who better to speak English with a Swedish accent (as the director insists he wants the actors in this Hollywood version to do) than Swedish actors who speak English?

The remarkable thing is that Swedish actor Noomi Rapace seemed the very personification of Larsson’s Lisbeth in the original version.  Indeed, so much so that I thought casting another actor to play this role would be like casting someone other than Daniel Radcliffe to play Harry Potter.

Imagine the dismay and consternation then when it was announced this week that, on the one hand, no less an international superstar than British actor Daniel Craig, a.k.a. James Bond, has been cast as Bloomqvist; while on the other, the relatively unknown American actor Rooney Mara has been cast as Lisbeth.

Well, Craig certainly has the acting skills, and I’ve read enough about his mastery of foreign accents to think that he will be quite convincing. But I do wonder not only whether the genteel looking Mara has the acting chops but also whether she has that Meryl Streep-like talent for accents to be equally convincing….

In any case, production on this certified Hollywood blockbuster begins next month and is scheduled for release in cinemas worldwide in December 2011.

Stay tuned.

NOTE: The irony is not lost on me that people said casting someone other than Sean Connery to play James Bond would be disastrous. After all, Craig himself has proved to be the most popular Bond ever!  Which begs the question: can Mara emulate Rapace the way Craig has emulated Connery?