Movies · TV

‘Dragon Tattoo’ Finally Gets a Follow-up, but without Fincher, Mara

By  · Published on March 14th, 2017

Plus: SXSW reviews and perfect shots.

You’d think someone like David Fincher would have proven their case for autonomy by now. You’d think that by hiring someone as stylistic and accomplished as Fincher, the studio would understand that the best way to help him make the best movie possible is to get out of his way and just let the man work. It’s merely a case of looking at Alien 3 versus Se7en: in the case of the former, the studio meddled, asserted control, and as a result the film was an utter disaster that Fincher doesn’t even like having his name attached to; in the case of the latter, he put his foot down, made the movie the way he wanted it made, and as a result he became an overnight sensation and a powerful new presence in cinema.

But when it came time for the American remake of the international uber-phenomenon The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – for which Fincher was the only, perfect choice – Sony decided to ignore the director’s track record and butt heads with him at pretty much every turn. For example, the studio, specifically producers Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin, wanted a star in the lead; Fincher wanted Rooney Mara. Though the studio relented, this was the start of a contentious production that resulted in an outstanding film, but soured relationships.

For years everyone, including Mara, was left wondering if the other two films in the trilogy were ever going to be made, and though we never got a straightforward “it’s dead” confirmation on the trilogy, the picture was made clear enough in 2016 when director Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe) was hired by Sony to direct The Girl in the Spider’s Web, the fourth installment in the series (and the only one whose novel wasn’t written by original author Stieg Larsson): not only were they ditching Fincher, they were ditching the rest of the original trilogy. Rooney Mara seemed to be still in the mix – she was certainly still interested, at least – but the latest news on the project has her out of the picture as well.

In an exclusive conversation with Buzzfeed, Alvarez revealed the following:

“I’m hugely excited and grateful for this opportunity. Sony has become family to me, and I can’t think of a more thrilling project to celebrate our relationship. Lisbeth Salander is the kind of character any director dreams of bringing to life. We’ve got a great script and now comes the most fun part – finding our Lisbeth.”

So no Mara, then.

Some had speculated when Alvarez was announced that he might bring Jane Levy, his Evil Dead star into the mix, or that recent Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) would be joining the cast, but those notions are dead too as Sony announced that there would be a “global hunt” for an “entirely new cast.” That means no Daniel Craig, either, though that surprises no one.

Whoever’s playing what the film has an official release date as well: October 5, 2018. Sound off in the comments who you’d like to see play Lisbeth Sandler and Mikael Blomkvist.

In other news and points of interest…

Game of Thrones producers revealed the episode count for the series’ final season, and it might be less than you were hoping

…one of our favorite directors, Ava DuVernay, wrapped production on A Wrinkle in Time this weekend and to celebrate she shared first pictures from the set

…and the Netflix show A Series of Unfortunate Events starring Neil Patrick found out whether or not it will get a second season.

Over in our corner of the internet we’ve had a lot of really interesting posts go up yesterday, including more reviews from SXSW: Fernando Andres tackled The Disaster Artist, and Rob Hunter reviewing The Archer. Plus, Max Covill exploring basketball movies in honor of March Madness and a video that surveys the work of female cinematographers.

And lastly, take a look at five of the most popular shots we tweeted over the last 24 hours. Want more? You know where to find us.

CITIZEN KANE (1941) DP: Gregg Toland | Dir: Orson Welles
FANTASIA (1940) Directed by many, animated by many more | See IMDb for artist info
SHUTTER ISLAND (2010) DP: Robert Richardson | Dir: Martin Scorsese
DEAR WHITE PEOPLE (2014) DP: Topher Osborn | Director: Justin Simien
THE MATRIX RELOADED (2003) DP: Bill Pope | Dir: The Wachowskis

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