'Social Network' Director David Fincher Talks 'Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' Films

David Fincher took on the digital revolution this year in his film 'The Social Network,' but for his next guaranteed blockbuster, the American remake of 'Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,' he's going a little bit old school.

Fincher spoke with the film site Collider to discuss how he approached the technology and mystery aspects of the hit Swedish book and film series, of which he got the opportunity to make with English-speaking actors.

"Well you get asked these questions, you know we're going through this with Dragon Tattoo now, what year does it take place in? Well the books are delivered in 2004, so he's probably thinking in terms of 2003, it's not published until 2005, 2007 is the iPhone, so all those apps that would be available to the iPhone are probably something that Salander would have access to 'cause she's a bit of a Mac junkie. So you kind of go, 'Well where do we draw the line?' So we just said, look everything has to be pre-iPhone technology, because otherwise they would be sitting there going 'Well we just go over here.' They would have a compass; they would be able to tell what the weather was like. So there's all that stuff, you just have to make a decision [that's] fairly arbitrary, basically everything in the movie is pre-iPhone."

With the books being about similar subject matter to some of his other films, Fincher was actually a little bit hesitant to helm the movies, having forged a career with 'Seven,' and 'Zodiac.' Then, he took a look at the opportunity from a wider perspective.

"Dragon Tattoo came along and I was like "Awww f**k man you cannot make another serial killer movie...you've got to fucking stop this.' And it wasn't really even...it was Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin to an extent but mostly from the studio side that they were committed to this idea that there could be...that there was a hope that you could do a franchise movie for adults. And I thought 'f**k man, I've been working my ass off for twenty years, hoping that somebody would say something like this.' And I just thought, you get an opportunity to hopefully pave the way for something like that to happen...you know, that would be a great thing."

Of course, Fincher did take the opportunity, and the first of the Stieg Larsson-based films, starring Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig, comes out in December of this new year.

For much more of the interview, click over to Collider.com.

Comments

[Bosy]

07:36 AM on 01/11/2011

I love Fincher, but I'm gonna stick with only seeing the original in this case.

[mamacat]

03:18 AM on 01/03/2011

There are some movies which, to my mind, should not have anything changed about them, because they are perfect just they way they are. Casablanca, The Seven Samurai, La Femme Nikita, The Burmese Harp, and quite a few others. To that list, I would now add the movies in the Millenium trilogy. That is my opinion.

[Elongoria77]

11:55 PM on 01/07/2011

I agree you can't touch perfection. Even American can understand that's what subtitles are for. This movie has already made an impact here in the states so what is the need to remake something that people love for exactly the way it is. I say leave the movie alone all three are awesome and the books are even better.

[AuContrairian]

10:39 PM on 01/02/2011

No need for this movie. Why does everything need to be Americanized?

[colin72]

09:14 PM on 01/02/2011

Everyone is saying a remake "will ruin it". Ruin what? The original movie? The book? How can a remake ruin either? If you liked the book or the original what difference does another version make? None. Grow up people. Here's an idea for you... don't go see the Fincher version.

[lancea longini]

09:34 PM on 01/02/2011

We forget that remakes have a long and honorable history. For example: how many books about King Arthur and the Round Table have been written in the last 600 years? Each is essentially a re-make.

[Anne Mccormick]

09:57 PM on 01/02/2011

don't forget Robin Hood and his merry men.

[Linda from Deerfield]

08:20 PM on 01/02/2011

I have yet to see the 3rd in the sequence, but the first 2 were riveting. I'm personally against a remake. Dubbing might have been ok.

[mamacat]

02:58 AM on 01/03/2011

I think the 3rd is the best of the three, by the way.

[agxphoto]

08:10 PM on 01/02/2011

I saw the first film. A remake is a horrible idea. I predict a plastic disaster on par with the American remake of La Femme Nikita from 1990.

What are they going to open with? An apology for failing to realize that someone else wrote a script and carried out a plan? Hollywood had its chance at thoughtful art, then they rejected the concepts of scripting and planning and writing.

We don't need the Reality Show version of these movies. What are they thinking?

Give it to the director of "Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark." Maybe then the failures will make enough headlines to excuse another showing of the production.

[mamacat]

03:01 AM on 01/03/2011

I agree with your view of the American remakes of La Femme Nikita. They may have made money, but it is painful to watch such poor copies of a great movie. I am not usually in to action flicks, but LFN gets it right.

Having said that, I wish the remakes of the Swedish films well. Maybe we will be lucky, and they will be worth watching.

[Professor Zoom]

07:37 PM on 01/02/2011

I've only seen Girl With the Dragoon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire, and both are awesome and there really isn't a need for a remake. BUT, there was a lot left out from the book. Now of course everything from the book can't be in the movie, but there is room to expand and add more of the detail that was in the book. So I'm curious to see how the remake turns out.

[ProudToBeVeryLiberal]

05:55 PM on 01/02/2011

I still wonder how on earth will 007 fit in the story... ;)

[DisgruntledYouth]

11:44 PM on 01/02/2011

micke blumvkist

[JesuisFrederique]

03:33 PM on 01/02/2011

Are they going to ruin it with adding special effects ?

[Amalek]

08:13 AM on 01/03/2011

Ruin it?  What would the movie be without special effects?   Why they will blow up the whole Island in the movie won't they?

[BitterInPA]

02:57 PM on 01/02/2011

If you watch the Swedish versions, you will wonder how anyone could make a better film. Hmm, let's see. Film it in Canada (pretend it is in the US), in English (because most American's will not do subtitles) and suck out all of the Swedish culture (since American is the center of the Universe).
It will be a hit. A typical Hollywood film with no depth.

[cnick]

03:57 PM on 01/02/2011

Total agreement, they will ruin it with special effects and botoxed actors

[LA2000]

06:47 PM on 01/02/2011

You do know they shot the American version in Sweden, right?

They said the same things about the remake of "Let the Right One In" and it turned out that the American version was arguably more nuanced and artful than the great Swedish original.

[mamacat]

03:04 AM on 01/03/2011

I couldn't watch the Ameican version of that one all the way through - too painful to watch such a butcher job.

[quillerm]

02:29 PM on 01/02/2011

I watched the Swedish movie of this book and it kept me at the edge of my seat which is unusual when reading captions. The performances of these Swedish actors and the plot is fantastic. It has a slow start but then it's hold on to your seat for the rest of the movie.

[negogato]

06:56 PM on 01/02/2011

Well ... Bergman ... check out his work in the theater... he did so much even before he 'retired' from filmaking.

And they do support the theater and film business with tax money. If you do that you have more culture.

I have friends in the Danish and Swedish film industry and they tell be that people GIVE their locations especially houses to benifit the film makers. GIVE. So much of what you see in the films were free location shots.

[Twrexx]

02:27 PM on 01/02/2011

It used to be that Hollywood waited a respectable amount of time before doing a remake. Now, apparently, it happens almost simultaneously. There is no need to remake what was already a good series, but it will be interesting to see how this movie does at the box office when so many people have already seen the original.

[Lakers2010]

02:06 PM on 01/02/2011

"...is the iPhone, ...to the iPhone ... to be pre-iPhone technology, ... is pre-iPhone."

Let me guess: The plot of the movie is about a Swedish journalist having to chose between the iPhone and an Android phone?

I am confused.

[blumuze]

01:38 PM on 01/02/2011

Fincher will be hard pressed to do a better job than was done with the Swedish films. His films will no doubt have prettier people and better FX, but his chances of actually making better films are, IMHO, slim and none.

Makes me think of the disaster that the American remake of Le Femme Nikata was (Point of No Return, with Bridget Fonda.). Yuk! You can't do better than great.

[JustnAmerican]

01:45 PM on 01/02/2011

How right you are! The swedish films cannot be topped by american film studios, they don't have Noomi Repace. She made all three films in her acting in all these films. Case closed.

[HLL]

01:50 PM on 01/02/2011

Fan #1 Justn!! Noomi rocked those films. She was extraordinary. Agree, case closed! ☮

[knoxblox]

03:04 PM on 01/02/2011

Agreed. I really don't understand Hollywood's obsession with remaking (and often ruining) already decent foreign films.

Two other spectacular disasters that come to mind are The Vanishing (with a completely different ending, WTF?), and Traffic (oooh, if Soderbergh films it in primary colors, it makes it that much more profound!).

The only American remake I can put a finger on that I thought had even close in spirit to the original was Insomnia. I thank heaven every day they never tried to redo Amelie.

[LA2000]

06:51 PM on 01/02/2011

Have you seen "Let Me In"?

Amazing.

[KMHolloway]

01:26 PM on 01/02/2011

I almost threw that book in the trash when I finished it. Oh boy, another movie with violent rape, incest and human brutality. Yum.

[ProudToBeVeryLiberal]

05:53 PM on 01/02/2011

Yeah, it's so much better to live in fantasyland and vote republican...

[negogato]

07:22 PM on 01/02/2011

The English title of course is The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo. Straight from the Swedish it would be The Man Who Hated Women. So even the book title in English is a big ... switch off.
How many fantasyland people would buy and read:The Man Who Hated Women? I'm thinking probably ... less .

ProudToBe your fan

700

[whitebeach]

05:57 PM on 01/02/2011

And another movie (and book) filled with human intelligence, ingenuity, courage, loyalty, and love.

I wonder what your favorite books and movies are.