If ever there were a Godfather of remakes, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would be it. When reports arose about a year ago that David Fincher, (The Social Network, Fight Club) would direct the American remake of the Swedish film, the internet was buzzing. Bloggers and media sources alike began to speculate: Why fix something if it isn't broken?
The original movies, filmed with a Swedish cast, is based off of Stieg Larsson's book trilogy, (Millennium). The title character of Lisbeth Salander was perfectly interpreted by Noomi Rapace. What would a remake accomplish? The story had already been told. But, looking at Fincher's body of work, it was imminent that the film would take the same dark approach as the original movie did.
So let's address the elephant in the room: Fincher brings in a virtually unknown actress to play one of the most intense and disturbing roles that hundreds of Hollywood actresses auditioned for. Rooney Mara, to whom the role was eventually rewarded, stated on David Letterman that the audition process took about two and a half months.
It seems that Fincher chose wisely. Although Rapace's Lisbeth is communicative through her speech and attitude, it seems that Mara's Lisbeth is more nonverbally expressive. Mara adopted a Swedish-tinged American accent for this role and her lines are generally short and to the point. It's something about her facial expressions, what she doesn't say, how she walks. Sure, any actress could have chopped all their hair off, pierced various parts of their bodies and completed all of the uncomfortable graphic scenes, but Mara seemingly approached the role with an different interpretation. Rapace played one Lisbeth and Mara the other, but somewhere in the middle is the same character.
The plot of the film is generally the same as the original, with all of the key elements to set up the trilogy, (which, assuming The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo makes money at the box office, a second and third movie.) Some minor plot points and conversations are changed, written with an American audience in mind, but generally the gist is the same. With a solid cast, (Daniel Craig opposite Mara as the journalist Mikael Blomkvist, Christopher Plummer, Robin Wright, and Stellan Skarsgard to name a few,) the film does not disappoint. Fans of the original trilogy and also the books might not take as well to the movie because of loyalty to the Swedish versions, but this film doesn't seem to want to completely change everything, just present the story in a new way.
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