Got to see a preview screening tonight of the much anticipated follow up to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, more of which I'll be writing about soon, but afterwards there was the chance to pitch some questions to director Daniel Alfredson.
Alfredson was chosen to helm the final two films in the trilogy based on the successful Stieg Larsson novels, filming The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest back to back LOTR style (that's 110 days film for those who are interested in such things).
**Potential spoilers** The Q&A was chaired by Empire Magazine's Damon Wise who kicked off proceedings with questions about what it was like working with Lisbeth Salander actress Noomi Rapace. Alfredson didn't give too much away except to say that Rapace was keen to do as much as possible herself including the scene where she has to dig herself out of her own grave and which was shot at 5am in the morning.
When asked if there was anything she wouldn't have done in order to capture the character, Alfredson said "No" and that is was important for Rapace in order for her to inhabit the character of Lisbeth. But he did add that the only similarities between Rapace and the character she plays is their shared love of privacy.
Other amusing titbits and things to look out for:
* Lisbeth Salanders apartment has name Villa Villekulla written on the door which is popular Swedish children character Pippi Longstocking's house and a reference to how Larsson said he based Lisbeth on Pippi.
* Paolo Roberto the boxer in the film is actually a real boxer and famous in Sweden. Larsson wrote him into the book leaving director Alfredson with the problem of whether to cast him or not. Roberto had to screen test to play himself and was worried that he wouldn't be good enough.
* The IKEA products Lisbeth buys for her apartment aren't product placement, it's where they thought she would shop
* Larsson, before he died, had written 85% of a fourth book and the bare bones of a fifth, whether they will actually get finished or indeed made into films is not known.
* The Girl Who Played With Fire was also a six hour TV series in Sweden but had a different scripts each with some of it own unique aspects of the story.
And so to the question I was burning to ask but someone else got in there before me: What does Alfredson think of the US remake?
What he said is that it comes down to money, the US has lots and Sweden doesn't have very much and ultimately "money rules". But he added that Sweden did the original and "Noomi will always be Lisbeth" to which the audience applauded.
Comments