While the James Bond franchise is in limbo pending MGM’s future, it appears that Daniel Craig will be working on a Swedish accent for his next project, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Three projects in fact. In June we told you that Craig was in talks to star in U.S. produced versions of Steig Larrson’s best-selling Millennium Trilogy. The trilogy – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest – became an international sensation when it was finally released in the States last year.
Music Box Films has brought the first two Danish film installments of the trilogy to U.S. theaters already, and plans to release Hornet’s Nest this October. To date, Tattoo has grossed $9.6 million in the U.S. and $92 million internationally. The second film, The Girl Who Played with Fire, has grossed $2.9 million in the U.S. since its release earlier this month; it grossed $51 million internationally.
With the official announcement of Craig’s hiring, there’s speculation about who will play the female lead, Lisbeth Salander, a rail-thin computer hacker who works with Craig’s Mikael Blomkvist character. Among the candidates being considered for the role are Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Sara Snook (Sleeping Beauty), Rooney Mara (The Social Network) and Sophie Lowe (Blame). These are in addition to the more high-profile Lisbeth candidates: Carey Mulligan, Ellen Page, and Mia Wasikowska. If I had a vote I’d include Anna Kendrick into that mix, but I don’t know if she can do a Swedish accent.
David Fincher is slated to direct Dragon Tattoo and is on board, along with Craig, to do The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. Steve Zaillian will pen the adaptation with Scott Rudin (No Country for Old Men) producing.
Sony Pictures will release The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on December 21, 2011.
