Remaking "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo"

Seems the most excellent "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is going to be made in America. Remade, that is. The original is very very good, so good luck. I have the books, I have the movies and loved them.In remaking this in English, we will lose some of the foreignness of the originals, we will lose the charming language and accents and some if not all of the original intent and meaning of those who lived directly through the horrors of the Nazi regime of WWII.

Christine Spines from Word and Film web site wrote a

Memo to David Fincher

After explaining the background on remakes, he gave some suggestions to help increase the quality of a remake:

"Yes, our expectations are high. But we know that if any American director can do this right, you can. And this is our way of making sure that’s exactly what happens."

1. After Blomquist is convicted in the Wennerstrom libel case, he resigns from Millennium, the political magazine he co-founded with his sometime lover, Erika Berger. We want to see the intimate moments between Blomquist and Berger explored more fully in order to establish Blomquist’s messy emotional life and his inability to maintain boundaries between business and romance.

2. In the book Lisbeth Salander is introduced through her complex relationship with her boss, Dragan Armansky, the first man in her life to recognize her anger and hacking skills as professional assets. And the first person in her life not to betray her trust. Fully fleshing out this relationship on screen could add layers of depth and dimension to Lisbeth’s backstory and emotional evolution.

3. When Heinrich Vanger first hires Blomquist to investigate his niece Harriet’s disappearance, Blomquist doesn’t exactly spark to the assignment. Blomquist’s ambivalence and his disorientation greatly contribute to the the creep factor in the book. Why not retain some of that in the film?

4. The rape scene in the Swedish film is perfectly horrifying. It’s going to be tough to improve upon what’s been done already. Our only request — and this is a crucial one — is that yours is just as painful to watch.

5. In Lisbeth’s revenge scene, the dildo is mandatory. Don’t even think of soft-pedaling.

6. Blomquist integrates himself into the Vanger family’s bizarre transgressive rhythms and ends up having an affair with Cecilia, Heinrich’s niece. Perhaps Oplev thought it unnecessary to highlight Blomquist’s womanizing. We want to feel the suspense of impending doom that goes along with Blomquist’s unprofessionalism.

7. We didn’t get our fill of Blomquist and Lisbeth’s gum-shoe tag-team reporting. We want to see all the dead ends encountered in the book, before they figure out that the same person responsible for Harriet’s disappearance had also been raping women throughout the area and leaving dead kitties on their porches.

8. We’d like to see a slightly more graphic version of the scene in which Lisbeth saves Blomquist in Martin Vanger’s dungeon.

9. Harriet Vanger becomes the heir apparent to the Vanger group upon her return and morphs into a high-powered businesswoman. Why not include this deliciously satisfying irony in the film?

10. One more thing: If your Lisbeth isn’t the vengeful, sullen, bisexual, slightly butch badass we know her to be, things could get ugly. You’ve been warned.

Christopher Spine's article on wordandfilm.com