He was expecting to be filming his third
James Bond movie right now, but with
Daniel Craig's immediate schedule free he has spread his wings somewhat to the kind of movies he would usually have had to turn down. We already know he is to lead
Cowboys & Aliens for Jon Favreau that begins filming next week, and now
according to Deadline - an offer is out to Craig to lead the U.S. adaptation of the international best-selling Steig Larsson novel
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, to be directed by
David Fincher. If a deal is sealed, he would 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. One stumbling block for this is Sony's desire for a trilogy and it would be difficult for Craig to commit to such a long contract given he is Bond...James Bond. 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 role. 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. Though no actress has been set just yet.
Steve Zaillian (
American Gangster, Schlinder's List) has turned in his script, and the movie is
staring at an October production start. Sony have already set a release date for December next year, with the two sequels expected to be made back-to-back (though those probably not made by Fincher). 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.
