The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) trailer

I will talk about the trailer in a bit, but first some context for those who are diving straight in without knowing this particular film. As we all know, it is based on a Swedish novel (and first in the Millennium trilogy) by the late Stieg Larsson and has already been adapted as a TV-movie in 2009 (starring Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist and Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander). It received three BAFTA nominations (including Best Leading Actress – Noomi Rapace and Best Adapted Screenplay), though it left with one; Best Film not in the English Language.

It wouldn’t be long till Hollywood would decide to grab their hands on it and develop their own version. It cause some outcry and some saying that it should be left alone. I will admit, I was pretty adamant on the idea of a Hollywood version of the novel/TV-movie. Though the talent behind it started to make me have some sigh of hope; they recruited Steven Zaillian to adapt the novel (previous credits – Schindler’s List, Gangs of New York and American Gangster) and David Fincher was hired to direct the film (previous credits – Se7en, Fight Club and The Social Network) Who was going to play the leading players? Daniel Craig (Casino Royale) as troubled yet talented journalist and Rooney Mara (The Social Network) as the socially awkward goth/punk hacker. This is a team that no one could ask anymore better from them! Fincher, especially, is in familiar ground; a dark mystery thriller that practically runs in his veins.

Now our questions were what was the film going to look like? Would the actors attempt to pull a Swedish/English dialect? Well the look is very slick and top notch, Rooney Mara really becomes Salander but actually more like a punk/goth than Rapace did (sorry fans of the original movies but I quite like this new Salander). It features the Oscar winning composers, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, music in the trailer (Reznor even created a cover of ‘Immigrant Song’ by Led Zeppelin with Karen-O for the teaser trailer). Even the trailer runs at 3 minutes and 40 seconds (usually average running time for a theatrical trailer is 2 minutes 30 seconds) reveals only enough to not spoil anything for those who have not read the book or seen the previous films.

My reaction to the trailer? I cannot wait for it! It has moved from being number 2 to number 1 on my most anticipated list (http://frostmagazine.com/2011/03/top-most-anticipated-movies-of-2011/). Plus it’s directed by David Fincher! Do I need to explain why that’s a good thing? As you’ve seen from his credits, he has made a movie that everyone likes! What do you think? Are you excited for it as much as I am or do you think it should’ve been left alone from the very start?