David Fincher and Rooney Mara recently sat down with W magazine to discuss their adaptation of Steig Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and also finally give us our first official look at Mara as Lisbeth Salander. Fincher also opened up and revealed the differences between their version and the book. [Updated]
"The script, which captures the novel’s bleak tone, was written by Academy Award winner Steven Zaillian, who wrote Schindler’s List, and it departs rather dramatically from the book. Blomkvist is less promiscuous, Salander is more aggressive, and, most notably, the ending, the resolution of the drama has been completely changed. This may be sacrilege to some, but Zaillian has improved on Larsson, the script’s ending is more interesting."
Fincher was also fascinated with the villains in the story are corporate businessmen: “Fascism has worked its way out of politics,” Fincher stated, “and gone into high finance. Today Woodward and Bernstein would be investigating corruption in the financial arena. I was interested in that. And, of course, the girl.”
Mara commented on her approach to the role.
“Before I read the book, I didn’t think I could do it, I locked myself in a room for a week and read all three books, and decided I really wanted to be Lisbeth. But I thought I had no shot at it.”
But Fincher knew Mara was perfect for Salander: “I wanted her from the beginning,” Fincher stated. “Rooney may be a trust-fund baby from football royalty, but she’s levelheaded and hardworking. It’s so odd how people are comes out in auditions. We didn’t make it easy for Rooney, and there was no way to dissuade her. We had five or six girls audition with the rape scene. The girls had to kick a dildo up his ass. That’s Salander’s big scene, and we had to see if they could do it.”
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is currently filming in Europe and stars Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, Stellan Skarsgaard and Robin Wright, with a release date set for December 21st.
