Thursday, January 13, 2011

Rooney Mara is David Fincher's Lisbeth Salander

2:12 PM / Cinema / Comments18 Comments

Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander

OK, I buy it. Different from Noomi Rapace but still undoubtedly Salander.

More pics (and an article) here. (Thanks Erik!)

 
18 Comments

1. Anonymous said:

Looks like a 16 year old kid, also too neat & cute. Rapace's Salander would eat her for breakfast.

(Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 3:43 PM)

2. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Given that, in the novels, Salander is repeatedly mistaken for an underage girl, the youthful look actually seems kind of appropriate. That said, I don't doubt that Rapace's Salander could beat the crap out of her. The Mara version is definitely more... ethereal, for want of a better word.

Actually, I'd love to see a full-on fight between the two Salanders. Maybe Rapace could be persuaded to reprise the role one last time? :D

(Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 3:47 PM)

3. Brian said:

I'll stick with the original film, thank you very much America.

(Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 3:47 PM)

4. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Brian:

Normally I'd agree with you, but in this case I'm willing to make an exception given that

(a) It's Fincher
(b) It's Fincher
(c) It's Fincher

and

(d) while I think it's too soon, in theory I've nothing against multiple adaptations from the same source material. Having read the books before seeing the Swedish films, I felt that there were areas where improvements could definitely have been made. Not so much THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, but definitely the two follow-ups, both of which (at least in their theatrical incarnations) essentially had the rich social commentary that constitutes their spine ripped out and were reduced to functional but unimaginative A-to-B plotting.

(Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 3:52 PM)

5. Erik said:

Cheers.

Hey, it's the girl from THE SOCIAL NETWORK who [spoiler for the one person who hasn't seen it] breaks up with Zuckerberg in the first scene. Propped up to look like Salander, but not quite making it, looking more like someone getting ready to go out on Halloween in their Lisbeth costume.

(Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 4:23 PM)

6. Count Fosco said:

Knowing next to nothing about this actress aside from the fact she was in Fincher's THE SOCIAL NETWORK in a very minimal role I'll try and keep and open mind.

Whilst I'm not totally sold on the look I am expecting some serious acting chops as surely Fincher must see something in this young lady for her to be given such a fashionable and sought after role.

(Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 6:18 PM)

7. Count Fosco said:

Just looked at some of the other pics you linked to. Actually, does promise more than I expected if a little more chic/fashion model than Rapace.

(Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 6:21 PM)

8. Kamyar said:

She was quite bland in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" remake, though that movie was horrendous on every imaginable level anway.

I'm really interested to see how they will translate the novel "culturally" for an American audience. Are they going to keep the Swedish setting? Wouldn't that be a bit odd?

I can't imagine how an American-made film can deliver a better adaptation of the social commentary from the novels, when those are very much tied to swedish culture.

The dirty secrets of the King of Sweden that were uncovered in the past few months make me believe that Stieg Larsson was really on to something there.

(Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 9:58 PM)

9. Erik said:

Kamyar -- Shot in Sweden, Norway it seems, Switzerland, and the US (mostly for interior work, if I were a betting man). And not only are they keeping the setting, the cast will speak with Swedish accents. Which worries me more than Mara.

(Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 10:07 PM)

10. Anonymous said:

It's Fincher's involvement which I find a bit depressing. Seems like a waste of talent to spend a year of your life creating a film which has been made perfectly well already, and not that long ago either. And of course, thanks to the US stranglehold on the world film market, it will make millions more than the original. That's my biggest gripe actually- People will argue that the original is always there, however it seems unfair when you consider that the very best of world cinema hits a glass ceiling for box office returns. As for the idea that a US remake will somehow improve on an original, I'm not convinced this has actually happened yet. Last years recipient of the best foreign film Oscar, The Secret in their Eyes, is down for a remake, and if you've seen it you'd know how ludicrous a remake would be. OK, I'll get offf my soapbox now...

(Posted on Friday, January 14, 2011 at 3:35 PM)

11. Brian said:

Sorry that was me who posted that last comment ;)

(Posted on Friday, January 14, 2011 at 3:41 PM)

12. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Brian:

But is it really a remake, though? It would be a shame if, once a book had been adapted once, it became taboo for another filmmaker to ever touch it. (I mean hey, Rankin/Bass already did THE HOBBIT. What's that Peter Jackson playing at? :D) I think in all this discussion of Fincher's version sullying or obscuring Niels Arden Oplev's version, it's easy to lose track of the fact that Oplev's version isn't the original: the book is. It would be a different story entirely if there had been no book and the story of Lisbeth Salander had only started with the Swedish film, but for better or worse Fincher and co seem to be going back to the book rather than remaking the 2009 film.

(Incidentally, I even know some readers of the books who consider the existing films to be sacrilege... although I suspect that those people would consider ANY adaptation in the same way.)

The problem, I suspect, is the timing of this release, which you've touched on. It's too soon. But at the same time, how much time has to pass before it becomes acceptable for another director to take a crack at a book someone else has already filmed?

To a certain extent I'm playing devil's advocate here. I do have severe misgivings about THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO being adapted again so soon, but at the same time I think there's an underlying assumption in some circles that the 2009 version is somehow automatically more "legitimate" than the 2011 version - an assumption that I personally think deserves to be countered.

(Posted on Friday, January 14, 2011 at 4:20 PM)

13. Christopher D. Jacobson said:

Not Fincher's first pick, I heard. Apparently he really wanted Yo-landi Visser, but she wouldn't agree to it.

Anyway, I know nothing about these books and movies save for people keep talking about them. :p

(Posted on Friday, January 14, 2011 at 8:46 PM)

14. bosque said:

How many great performances of Hamlet would we have missed if re-makes of its first performance had been frowned upon ?

(Posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011 at 2:07 PM)

15. Marcus said:

The "it's too soon" argument doesn't compute for me. Subtitled movies never cause much impact in America, therefore English language remakes of foreign language hits come in. The Ring, The Vanishing, etc... all made a few years after the original. And Tattoo has a best selling book to support it.

(Posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011 at 6:42 PM)

16. Gareth Flynn said:

Is this shot an actual production still, or a fashion shot done 'in character' for the magazine?

(Posted on Sunday, January 16, 2011 at 2:28 AM)

17. Toecutter said:

It's a fashion shot done the magazine.

(Posted on Sunday, January 16, 2011 at 8:32 AM)

18. Christopher D. Jacobson said:

Not that this has any relation to the subject at hand, but does anyone know whether the UK Blu-ray of "Amer" is Region B-locked, and whether there are plans yet for a US release? Considering importing it, but as of now I can only play Region A discs.

(Posted on Sunday, January 16, 2011 at 11:12 AM)

 
To combat spam, commenting is automatically disabled on entries older than 30 days.

Did a comment you tried to post accidentally get eaten by the spam filter? It happens from time to time. I get upwards of 200 spam comments every day and unfortunately don't have the time to weed through all of them in case something genuine ended up there by mistake. If one of your posts gets incorrectly flagged as spam, email me at m.r.mackenzie[at]gmail[dot]com and I'll do my best to retrieve it.

 
Archives
Categories
Recent posts