Daniel Craig locked in for Fincher's GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Would Daniel Craig really sign a three deal contract with Sony, so soon after appearing in another franchise gig in Cowboys & Aliens, if were sure he would wear the tux of 007 ever again? I would suggest not. I think there's a feeling his time as 007 could be done, and unless Chris Nolan tells Warner Bros. that he wants to make a Bond movie at their company, and they pay MGM for the rights and hand the Inception director another blank cheque - I think it's over for him. He's already 42. Deadline say Craig has agreed to play the leading male in Sony's adaptation of Steig Larsson's best-selling crime thriller The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo which shoots in Sweden this fall under the direction of David Fincher, from a script by Steve Zaillian. The movie is aiming for a Dec. 2011 release. Craig will play Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist for Millennium magazine who fancies himself as an amateur detective and is immersed in crime writing culture. He attempts to solve a complex case involving the mysterious disappearance of a 16 year old some 40 years ago. The character is written for someone in their 40€s, and Craig clearly has that Nordic look (blonde, blue eyes) and feels more right for the movie than Fincher€™s usual cohort Brad Pitt, who was once rumored for the movie. And he kind of looks like actor Michael Nyqvist, who played the character in the Swedish adaptation of the movies, which is nice. Fincher€™s version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the hottest film in development right now,with a who€™s who of young actresses€™ said to be desperate for the female role of the salacious Lisbeth Salander. We previously reported that an offer was out to Carey Mulligan (which was later retracted as just interest) and then Ellen Page, Kristen Stewart, Mia Wasikowska, Natalie Portman, Keira Knightley, Anne Hathaway, and Scarlett Johannsen were all being strongly linked with at least an interest in the project, among a few others. Deadline now say the list is down to five. Ellen Page (Juno, Inception), Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland), Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Rooney Mara (The Social Network) and then two unknowns - Sophie Lowe (Blame) and Sara Snook (Sleeping Beauty). Fincher has previously hinted he wanted an unknown for the part, though no actress has been set just yet. We here at OWF don€™t have too much interest in the movie as we feel the trilogy is done (the Swedish adaptation of the novels are pretty mediocre, but then again so are the novels themselves) but we are hopeful that Fincher can do what Chris Nolan did with Insomnia - and actually out-do it€™s source material.
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Matt Holmes is the co-founder of What Culture, formerly known as Obsessed With Film. He has been blogging about pop culture and entertainment since 2006 and has written over 10,000 articles.