Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Still Looking For The Right Lisbeth And Failing To Consider Natalie Portman

I’d be a lot more excited about David Fincher’s upcoming attempt to turn the popular Swedish novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo into a movie if, well, it hadn’t already been done perfectly. The Swedish version which got a limited release here in America a few weeks ago is brilliant, one of the very best movies of the year. It seems impossible that Fincher might be able to top it, and even more impossible that he’ll ever be able to find anyone better at playing Lisbeth Salander than Noomi Rapace. But of course, he’s going to try.

The casting search to find the right Lisbeth is turning into as big a crazy, casting tornado as the search for Spider-Man did, with more names being tossed around for the part than could ever realistically be considered. The latest batch, according to Deadline, includes Carey Mulligan, Ellen Page, Mia Wasikowska (Alice from Burton’s Alice in Wonderland), Emily Browning (who you’ll eventually see in Sucker Punch), Sara Snook (who I’m convinced is being considered only because she has a funny name), Rooney Mara (she’s in Fincher’s other movie The Social Network), and Sophie Lowe (I have no idea who she is and I refuse to go to IMDB). Most of these actresses are flat out wrong.

The only name they should consider is Natalie Portman. She’s a little older than the character but she can pull off younger with no problem, and to me it seems an actress with some experience to add years behind the eyes is essential. Lisbeth is after all a rape victim who’s turned her tragedy into a sort of burning rage which propels her into action. She’s an incredibly complex character and that kind of complexity seems like something only someone who’s been around in the business a few years can properly portray. Besides, after Star Wars we could all use a reminder that Portman’s still a brilliant actress. Why isn’t she being considered? Where is she on this? Someone get hold of her agent. Someone get hold of Fincher. This part should belong to Natalie Portman. She’s no Noomi Rapace, but she’s the next best thing.

Interestingly word is that Fincher is having his potential actresses work on their Swedish accents. That would seem to indicate that, unlike the Let the Right One In remake Let Me In, the story won’t be Americanized. They’re keeping it in Sweden. I’m all for keeping it in Sweden but if you’re going to hire American or British actresses and have them speak English, then why bother with the accent? I know that’s Hollywood’s standard mode of operation when portraying any non-English speaking person, but what’s the point? It’s not as if the person they’re portraying would have spoken that way since, you know, they’re Swedish and thus would have spoken Swedish, not English with a weird accent. I blame everyone who made fun of Valkyrie, for refusing to indulge in this accented silliness.