The Girl Who Played with Fire is likely not happening

It's been rumored that a sequel for the American adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would be hitting for quite sometime now, but issues with Sony and director David Fincher stalled the project indefinitely. There's now more hints from actress Rooney Mara that any potential sequels are dead.

Mara told E! Online that she was sad that it doesn't seem to be in the cards, but it doesn't look likely at all. The film didn't hit as well at the box office as Sony would have wanted to begin with, but interest in an American version of the Millennium trilogy seemed to fizzle very quickly. David Fincher decided to move on and the studio was unwilling to pay Daniel Craig's post-Skyfall salary. At one point there were even rumors that The Girl Who Played with Fire would omit Craig's character entirely.
I personally loved Fincher's version and I really liked the books, but the source material wasn't that great. They managed to make great films out of the books in Sweden with Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander. I just don't think Americans were quite prepared for a dark trilogy like this. It's a shame but it is what it is.

Daniel Craig may be cut from Girl Who Played with Fire

It appears that Sony's disappointment with David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is starting to set in.

Rumor has it that if a second film is even released (aka, The Girl Who Played with Fire) one key character may be written out. That character being Mikael Blomkvist who was played by Daniel Craig. Seeing that the second installment of the Millennium trilogy doesn't have a whole lot to do with Blomkvist and more to do with Lisbeth Salander this could potentially work. However, it seems that Sony may want to dump Craig entirely because his post-Skyfall pay demand has become too high for them. Sony is attempting to save some money by potentially not bringing Craig back due to the fact that the first film was a box office disappointment and they just plain don't want to pay to bring him back.
However, the other reason for this may be due to the fee writer Steve Zaillan is charging to write the script for The Girl Who Played with Fire. If you add in potential re-writes if they cut out Blomkqvist that will tack on additional money for Zaillan which could go higher than the pay increase Craig is now demanding. It sounds to me that each way Sony is screwed.

But, of course, Daniel Craig's representative is denying the salary demand and claims they have not even entered negotiations for a second film. There also is question as to if David Fincher will even return. The Girl Who Played with Fire is kinda going out on a loop right now, I think.

DVD design of Dragon Tattoo worthless?

People complaining about the design of the DVD for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo must not have seen the movie. If they have, then they obviously didn't pay attention. I think the DVD design was great. It's very relevant to Lisbeth Salander's character.

I will admit when I first opened up the package and saw the "burned disc" I was a bit confused, but it is very easy to tell it is a legit disc. What a bunch of idiots.


http://now.msn.com/now/0322-dragon-tattoo.aspx

2012 Academy Awards

The Academy Awards are this upcoming Sunday, February 26, and normally I would be super excited by now. However, after being given such a shitty list of nominations including many omissions I am not. I was thinking about the major categories and I just wanted to share my ideal Oscar list for what 2011 gave.

Best Picture:
Should be - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (but it wasn't even nominated)
Will be - The Artist

Best Actor:
Should be - Michael Shannon for Take Shelter (but he wasn't nominated)
Will be - George Clooney for The Descendents

Best Actress:
Should be - Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Will be - Viola Davis for The Help

Best Supporting Actor:
Should be - Sir Ben Kingsley for Hugo (but he wasn't nominated)
Will be - Christopher Plummer for Beginners

Best Supporting Actress:
Should be - Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids
Will be - Octavia Spencer for The Help

Best Director:
Should be - Martin Scorsese for Hugo
Will be - Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist

Best Original Score:
Should be - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (but they weren't nominated)
Will be - Ludovic Bource for The Artist



Such a disappointing year. I am tempted to not even watch this time around. The Walking Dead is on at the same time anyway, so I have a plausible argument going.

Stieg Larsson apparently would be pissed at Dragon Tattoo marketing

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/12/20/girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-marketing/

Makes sense, tbh. Seeing that I know the trilogy (books and movies) I think a lot of marketing in terms of actual merchandise is pretty dumb. Given what happened to Lisbeth I don't see why anyone would necessarily want to become her.
I think the buzz of the movie should be used to raise awareness for violence and discrimination towards women. Whether we like it or not it is prevalent and stuff that happens in the books does happen in real life. People want to ignore that.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

This movie was fantastic. I don't really know what else to say.

I was nervous and confused about Rooney Mara ever since I heard she had been cast and let me tell you, she was incredible. With the kinds of things she had to do in this film she really shined through it. I loved it because Mara was a little closer to the Lisbeth I got from the descriptions in the book. Noomi Rapace did great as well but I always perceived her as more passive and not as cold.

Daniel Craig gave Blomqvist an interesting contrast. He was serious and felt broken but at the heart of the character he was quite... nerdy? Him politely saying "goodbye" to Lisbeth's house guest was hilarious. His reaction to being shot at was a little quirky as well. It was a nice surprise. Although, I must say, Craig's accent annoyed the hell out of me. It went from being Swedish to an odd mixture of British and Swedish to flat out British at random. Very irritating. In comparison to Mara's flawless dialect it was real noticeable.

But overall I truly loved this film. It was, for me, closer to the book than the Swedish film was and certain parts were more intense. However, there was one major omission; Mikael didn't serve any jail time whatsoever. In the book he went to jail in the middle of his research and even in the Swedish version he went to jail. That disappointed me. I also felt like the actual research Mikael and Lisbeth did on Harriet wasn't as thorough as it should have been. Most of it felt a little rushed.

The musical score was incredible. I thought what Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross did for The Social Network was good, but what they have done for TGWTDT is even better. I also loved the subtle Nine Inch Nails tribute in the movie. I'll wait and see if anyone else catches it.

9.5/10
Best movie I have seen in 2011. Hands down.

6 track sampler for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

http://www.nullco.com/GDT/usd.php

Go and get the free sampler now. The full score is available for pre-order as well. I'm not going to pre-order. I'll just go ahead and buy it when it is available like I did with The Social Network's score.

These two make amazing music. I can imagine the film and I haven't even seen it yet. I love it.