The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Encyclopedia
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (original title in – "Men Who Hate Women") is an award-winning crime novel by Swedish
author and journalist Stieg Larsson
. It is the first book in the trilogy known as the "Millennium series".
At his death in November 2004, Larsson left the three unpublished novels that make up the trilogy. They became posthumous best-sellers in several European countries as well as in the United States. Larsson witnessed the gang rape of a young girl when he was 15. He never forgave himself for failing to help the girl, whose name was Lisbeth – like the young heroine of his books, herself a rape
victim, which inspired the theme of sexual violence against women in his books.
, on an island. And nothing in the investigation seems to follow normal logic. Every question remains unanswered, every clue leads to a dead end."
He supplies a family tree explaining the relationships of five generations of the Vanger family.
With the exception of Hedestad, the novel takes place in real Swedish towns. The Millennium magazine featured in the books has characteristics similar to that of Larsson's magazine, Expo
, which also had financial difficulties.
Blomkvist is promised considerable financial reward and solid evidence against Wennerström, in exchange for writing the Vanger family history. Vanger believes that his great-niece, Harriet, was murdered by a member of the family 36 years earlier. Blomkvist moves to the Vanger estate and begins his research into the history of the Vanger family and Harriet's disappearance.
Salander, who is considered asocial, was ruled legally incompetent as a child, and is under the care of a legal guardian
, Holger Palmgren. He has a stroke
. Her new guardian, Nils Bjurman, is a sadist
. He uses his position to sexually abuse
her in return for access to her own money. After he rape
s her, Salander takes her revenge, torturing him and threatening to ruin him unless he gives her full control of her life.
Blomkvist discovers Salander has hacked
into his computer, and persuades her to assist him with researching Harriet's disappearance. They begin to suspect that they are on the trail of a serial killer
. Although they have sexual intercourse, Salander keeps Blomkvist at a distance emotionally, refusing to give herself fully.
Blomkvist discovers that the killer is Martin Vanger, who tells him that his father initiated him when he was a teenager. He admits to murdering dozens of women, but denies killing his sister. Martin takes Blomkvist prisoner and is about to kill him. Salander arrives just in time to save him. Trying to escape, Martin drives his car head-on into a truck on the wrong side of the road and is burnt to death.
Salander's hacker acquaintance, Plague, sets up a phone tap on Anita Vanger's home in London. This proves that Harriet is alive, and located in Australia
. Blomkvist flies over alone to find Harriet, because Salander's mother has just died. Harriet tells Blomkvist that her father, and then her brother, had repeatedly raped her. Her father had not drowned by accident: she had killed him. Martin had witnessed the murder. Anita had helped her to leave Sweden secretly and to go into hiding. Blomkvist persuades her to return to Sweden, where she reunites with her great-uncle, who makes plans for her to take the position of CEO of the Vanger Corporation. Blomkvist accompanies Salander at the funeral.
Blomkvist is furious when he learns that the evidence against Wennerström that Vanger promised him is useless. However Salander has already hacked Wennerström's computer and has discovered that his crimes go far beyond what Blomkvist documented. Using her evidence, Blomkvist prints an exposé and book which ruins Wennerström and catapults Millennium to national prominence. Salander, using her phenomenal skill with computer hacking
, succeeds in stealing more than a quarter of a billion dollars from Wennerström's secret bank account. Blomkvist and Salander spend Christmas together in his holiday retreat and their sexual relationship continues. At the end of the year, she goes to Blomkvist's home with her Christmas present for him, but sees him with Berger and flees. She had intended declaring her love for him.
As a post script, Salander continues to monitor Wennerström and after six months, anonymously informs a lawyer in Miami of his whereabouts. He is found in Marbella, dead, shot three times in the head.
, the moral bankruptcy
of big capital and the virulent strain of Nazism
still festering away ..." in Swedish society.
Larsson further enters the debate as to how responsible criminals are for their crimes and how much is blamed on upbringing or society. Salander has a strong will and assumes that everyone else does, too. She is portrayed as having suffered every kind of abuse in her young life, including an unjustly ordered commitment to a psychiatric clinic and subsequent instances of sexual assault
suffered at the hands of her court-appointed guardian.
in 2006 for best crime novel of the year. It also won the 2008 Boeke Prize
, and in 2009 the Galaxy British Book Awards
for Books Direct Crime Thriller of the Year, and the prestigious Anthony Award for Best First Novel.
Larsson was posthumously awarded the ITV3
Crime Thriller Award for International Author of the Year in 2008.
The novel received mixed reviews from American critics. In a review for The New York Times
upon the book's September 2008 publication in the United States, Alex Berenson
wrote, "The novel offers a thoroughly ugly view of human nature"; while it "opens with an intriguing mystery" and the "middle section of Girl is a treat, the rest of the novel doesn't quite measure up. The book's original Swedish title was Men Who Hate Women, a label that just about captures the subtlety of the novel's sexual politics." The Los Angeles Times
said "the book takes off, in the fourth chapter: From there, it becomes classic parlor crime fiction with many modern twists....The writing is not beautiful, clipped at times (though that could be the translation by Reg Keeland) and with a few too many falsely dramatic endings to sections or chapters. But it is a compelling, well-woven tale that succeeds in transporting the reader to rural Sweden for a good crime story." Several months later, Matt Selman
said the book "rings false with piles of easy super-victories and far-fetched one-in-a-million clue-findings."
As of June 3, 2011, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has sold over 3.4 million copies in hardcover or ebook formats, and 15 million copies altogether, in the United States.
created film versions of the Millennium Trilogy – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish
title: Män som hatar kvinnor, "Men Who Hate Women"), The Girl Who Played with Fire
(Swedish
title: Flickan som lekte med elden, "The Girl Who Played with Fire") and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
(Swedish title: Luftslottet som sprängdes, "The Air Castle that was Blown Up"). The films are co-produced with Nordisk Film and TV company, with Danish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev
directing the first film and Daniel Alfredson
directing the second and third. In all three films, Noomi Rapace
portrayed Lusbeth Salander and Michael Nyqvist
portrayed Mikael Blomkvist.
Filming began in early 2008, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opened in Sweden, Denmark
, Norway
, Finland
and Iceland
in February–March 2009. In Norway and Denmark, it is the most viewed Swedish film ever, and in Sweden total admissions are above one million.
The films have been sold to Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, the United Kingdom
, Germany
, France
, Italy
, Greece
, Spain
, Portugal
, Belgium
, the Netherlands, Australia
, New Zealand
, Switzerland
, Luxembourg
, Poland
, Turkey
, Mexico
and the United States.
The film was acquired for theatrical and home video release by arthouse distributor Music Box Films
. It had its American premiere on March 6, 2010 at the Miami Film Festival titled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The film opened in US theaters in limited release on March 19, 2010.
Played with Fire and Hornets' Nest were released in the United States in 2010 by Music Box Films. Men Who Hate Women opened in France on 13 May, and in Italy and Spain on 29 May 2009.
Played with Fire opened simultaneously in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark on 18 September 2009.
Hornet's Nest was released 27 November 2009 in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Finland in January 2010.
In the UK, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo opened to critical acclaim in March 2010 and made more than £2 million at the box office. Sales of the DVD on its 19 July release have made it the highest selling foreign language title of the year in the UK. The Girl Who Played with Fire was released in cinemas the UK on 27 August and the final installment, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is set for release on 26 November.
In 2010, David Fincher
directed a Hollywood adaptation of the book
, for release in December 2011. According to The Guardian
, George Clooney
, Johnny Depp
, and Brad Pitt
were all interested in playing the central role of Mikael Blomkvist, but Daniel Craig
was officially confirmed as the lead in July 2010. On August 16, 2010, it was officially confirmed that Rooney Mara will play Lisbeth Salander. In the upcoming film, Robin Wright will play the role of Erika Berger, while Christopher Plummer
and Stellan Skarsgård
play the roles of Henrik and Martin Vanger respectively. In a reprise of their partnership on The Social Network
, Trent Reznor
is collaborating with Fincher to create the soundtrack.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
author and journalist Stieg Larsson
Stieg Larsson
Karl Stig-Erland Larsson , who wrote professionally as Stieg Larsson, was a Swedish journalist and writer, born in Skelleftehamn outside Skellefteå. He is best known for writing the "Millennium series" of crime novels, which were published posthumously...
. It is the first book in the trilogy known as the "Millennium series".
At his death in November 2004, Larsson left the three unpublished novels that make up the trilogy. They became posthumous best-sellers in several European countries as well as in the United States. Larsson witnessed the gang rape of a young girl when he was 15. He never forgave himself for failing to help the girl, whose name was Lisbeth – like the young heroine of his books, herself a rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
victim, which inspired the theme of sexual violence against women in his books.
Introduction
Larsson writes, within the novel, in Chapter 12, "It's actually a fascinating case. What I believe is known as a locked room mysteryLocked room mystery
The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of detective fiction in which a crime—almost always murder—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room...
, on an island. And nothing in the investigation seems to follow normal logic. Every question remains unanswered, every clue leads to a dead end."
He supplies a family tree explaining the relationships of five generations of the Vanger family.
With the exception of Hedestad, the novel takes place in real Swedish towns. The Millennium magazine featured in the books has characteristics similar to that of Larsson's magazine, Expo
Expo (magazine)
Expo is a Swedish anti-racist magazine, started in 1995 and issued by the non-profit Expo Foundation . The magazine, issued four times a year, contains investigative journalism focused on nationalist, racist, anti-democratic, anti-semitic and far-right movements and organisations...
, which also had financial difficulties.
Plot Summary
December 2002. Mikael Blomkvist, publisher of the Swedish political magazine Millennium, loses a libel case involving allegations about billionaire industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. He is sentenced to three months in prison, and ordered to pay hefty damages and costs. Soon afterwards, he is invited to meet Henrik Vanger, the retired CEO of the Vanger Corporation, unaware that he had commissioned an investigation into Blomkvist's personal and professional history. This was carried out by Lisbeth Salander, a surveillance agent with Milton Security.Blomkvist is promised considerable financial reward and solid evidence against Wennerström, in exchange for writing the Vanger family history. Vanger believes that his great-niece, Harriet, was murdered by a member of the family 36 years earlier. Blomkvist moves to the Vanger estate and begins his research into the history of the Vanger family and Harriet's disappearance.
Salander, who is considered asocial, was ruled legally incompetent as a child, and is under the care of a legal guardian
Legal guardian
A legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability...
, Holger Palmgren. He has a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
. Her new guardian, Nils Bjurman, is a sadist
Sadism
Sadism is the derivation of pleasure as a result of inflicting pain or watching pain inflicted on others. Aspects of it include:* Sadomasochism* Sadism and masochism as medical terms, sadism and masochism as paraphilia...
. He uses his position to sexually abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
her in return for access to her own money. After he rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
s her, Salander takes her revenge, torturing him and threatening to ruin him unless he gives her full control of her life.
Blomkvist discovers Salander has hacked
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
into his computer, and persuades her to assist him with researching Harriet's disappearance. They begin to suspect that they are on the trail of a serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
. Although they have sexual intercourse, Salander keeps Blomkvist at a distance emotionally, refusing to give herself fully.
Blomkvist discovers that the killer is Martin Vanger, who tells him that his father initiated him when he was a teenager. He admits to murdering dozens of women, but denies killing his sister. Martin takes Blomkvist prisoner and is about to kill him. Salander arrives just in time to save him. Trying to escape, Martin drives his car head-on into a truck on the wrong side of the road and is burnt to death.
Salander's hacker acquaintance, Plague, sets up a phone tap on Anita Vanger's home in London. This proves that Harriet is alive, and located in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Blomkvist flies over alone to find Harriet, because Salander's mother has just died. Harriet tells Blomkvist that her father, and then her brother, had repeatedly raped her. Her father had not drowned by accident: she had killed him. Martin had witnessed the murder. Anita had helped her to leave Sweden secretly and to go into hiding. Blomkvist persuades her to return to Sweden, where she reunites with her great-uncle, who makes plans for her to take the position of CEO of the Vanger Corporation. Blomkvist accompanies Salander at the funeral.
Blomkvist is furious when he learns that the evidence against Wennerström that Vanger promised him is useless. However Salander has already hacked Wennerström's computer and has discovered that his crimes go far beyond what Blomkvist documented. Using her evidence, Blomkvist prints an exposé and book which ruins Wennerström and catapults Millennium to national prominence. Salander, using her phenomenal skill with computer hacking
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
, succeeds in stealing more than a quarter of a billion dollars from Wennerström's secret bank account. Blomkvist and Salander spend Christmas together in his holiday retreat and their sexual relationship continues. At the end of the year, she goes to Blomkvist's home with her Christmas present for him, but sees him with Berger and flees. She had intended declaring her love for him.
As a post script, Salander continues to monitor Wennerström and after six months, anonymously informs a lawyer in Miami of his whereabouts. He is found in Marbella, dead, shot three times in the head.
Characters
- Mikael BlomkvistMikael BlomkvistMikael Blomkvist is a fictional character created by writer Stieg Larsson who appears as a main character in the Millennium series along with Lisbeth Salander.-Name:...
, journalist, publisher and part-owner of the monthly magazine Millenium. - Lisbeth SalanderLisbeth SalanderLisbeth Salander is a fictional character created by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. She is the heroine of Larsson's award-winning "Millennium series", first appearing in the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo...
, free-lance surveillance agent and researcher, specialising in investigating people, on behalf of Milton Security. - Henrik Vanger, retired industrialist and former CEO of Vanger Corporation.
- Gottfried Vanger, Martin and Harriet's father. (Deceased)
- Isabella Vanger, Gottfried Vanger's wife, Martin and Harriet's mother.
- Harriet Vanger, Henrik's great-neice.
- Martin Vanger, brother of Harriet and CEO of the Vanger Corporation.
- Cecilia Vanger, daughter of Harald Vanger, and one of Henrik's nieces.
- Anita Vanger, Cecilia's sister and one of Harriet's first cousins.
- Birger Vanger, Cecilia and Anita's brother.
- Hans-Erik Wennerström, billionaire financier.
- Robert Lindberg, banker and Blomkvist's provider of background to libellous feature.
- William Borg, Blomkvist's nemesis.
- Monica Abrahamsson, Blomkvist' wife: married in 1986 and divorced in 1991.
- Pernilla Abrahamsson, their daughter, born in 1986.
- Holger Palmgren, lawyer, legal guardian of Lisbeth Salander.
- Nils Bjurman, lawyer, legal guardian of Lisbeth Salander after Palmgren.
- Erika Berger, editor-in chief and majority owner of Millennium monthly magazine.
- Dirch Frode, former lawyer for Vanger Corporation, now lawyer with one client: Henrik Vanger.
- Dragan Armansky, CEO and COO of Milton Security.
- "Plague", computer/hacker genius.
- Christer Malm, director, art designer and part-owner of Millennium.
- Janne Dahlman, managing editor of Millenium.
- Gustaf Morell, Detective Superintendant. (Retired)
- Anna Nygren, Henrik Vanger's house keeper.
- Gunnar Nilsson, Henrik's caretaker.
Major themes
Larsson makes several literary references to the genre's classic forerunners, and comments on contemporary Swedish society. Reviewer Dessaix writes that "His favourite targets are violence against women, the incompetence and cowardice of investigative journalistsInvestigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
, the moral bankruptcy
Moral bankruptcy
Moral bankruptcy is a synonym for immorality that has gained popular usage in the fields of business and politics, in which it specifically implies some instance of political corruption or corporate crime...
of big capital and the virulent strain of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
still festering away ..." in Swedish society.
Larsson further enters the debate as to how responsible criminals are for their crimes and how much is blamed on upbringing or society. Salander has a strong will and assumes that everyone else does, too. She is portrayed as having suffered every kind of abuse in her young life, including an unjustly ordered commitment to a psychiatric clinic and subsequent instances of sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
suffered at the hands of her court-appointed guardian.
Reception and awards
The novel was released to great acclaim in Sweden and later, on its publication in many other European countries. In the original language, it won Sweden's Glass Key AwardGlass key award
The Glass Key award is a literature award given annually to a crime novel by an author from the Nordic countries.The award, named after the novel The Glass Key by American crime writer Dashiell Hammett, is a real glass key given every year by the members of the Crime Writers of Scandinavia to a...
in 2006 for best crime novel of the year. It also won the 2008 Boeke Prize
Exclusive Books Boeke Prize
The Exclusive Books Boeke Prize is a book prize awarded in South Africa, loosely modelled on the United Kingdom's Man Booker Prize, and sponsored by Exclusive Books...
, and in 2009 the Galaxy British Book Awards
British Book Awards
The Galaxy National Book Awards are a series of British literary awards focused on the best UK writers and their works, as selected by an academy of members from the British book publishing industry...
for Books Direct Crime Thriller of the Year, and the prestigious Anthony Award for Best First Novel.
Larsson was posthumously awarded the ITV3
ITV3
ITV3 is an entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom that is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel was launched on 1 November 2004. ITV3 is the second largest UK multi-channel, second only to ITV2.-History:...
Crime Thriller Award for International Author of the Year in 2008.
The novel received mixed reviews from American critics. In a review for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
upon the book's September 2008 publication in the United States, Alex Berenson
Alex Berenson
Alex Berenson is a former reporter for The New York Times and author of five novels and a book on corporate financial filings.-Life:...
wrote, "The novel offers a thoroughly ugly view of human nature"; while it "opens with an intriguing mystery" and the "middle section of Girl is a treat, the rest of the novel doesn't quite measure up. The book's original Swedish title was Men Who Hate Women, a label that just about captures the subtlety of the novel's sexual politics." The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said "the book takes off, in the fourth chapter: From there, it becomes classic parlor crime fiction with many modern twists....The writing is not beautiful, clipped at times (though that could be the translation by Reg Keeland) and with a few too many falsely dramatic endings to sections or chapters. But it is a compelling, well-woven tale that succeeds in transporting the reader to rural Sweden for a good crime story." Several months later, Matt Selman
Matt Selman
Matthew "Matt" Selman is an American writer and producer. Selman grew up in Massachusetts, attended the University of Pennsylvania and was editor-in-chief of student magazine 34th Street Magazine. After considering a career in journalism, he decided to try and became a television writer...
said the book "rings false with piles of easy super-victories and far-fetched one-in-a-million clue-findings."
As of June 3, 2011, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has sold over 3.4 million copies in hardcover or ebook formats, and 15 million copies altogether, in the United States.
Film adaptations
The Swedish film production company Yellow BirdYellow Bird (company)
Yellow Bird is a Swedish film and television production company founded by best-selling novelist Henning Mankell and film-producers Ole Søndberg and Lars Björkman. The company was founded to produce films based on Mankell's Kurt Wallander novels. Yellow Bird was sold to Danish media house Zodiak...
created film versions of the Millennium Trilogy – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
title: Män som hatar kvinnor, "Men Who Hate Women"), The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Played with Fire (film)
The Girl Who Played with Fire is a 2009 Swedish thriller film directed by Daniel Alfredson, and the sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by the late Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson, the second in his "Millennium series".The...
(Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
title: Flickan som lekte med elden, "The Girl Who Played with Fire") and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (film)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is a 2009 Swedish thriller film directed by Daniel Alfredson. It is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by the late Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson, the third and final entry in his "Millennium series". More were to follow, but because...
(Swedish title: Luftslottet som sprängdes, "The Air Castle that was Blown Up"). The films are co-produced with Nordisk Film and TV company, with Danish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev
Niels Arden Oplev
Niels Arden Oplev is a writer-director from Denmark.-Biography:He directed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the film based on Stieg Larsson's novel of the same title and won critical acclaim internationally. Oplev decided to not continue directing the second and third parts of the Millennium...
directing the first film and Daniel Alfredson
Daniel Alfredson
Hans Daniel Björn Alfredson is a Swedish film director who is best known for directing film versions of two parts of the Millennium Trilogy: The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest...
directing the second and third. In all three films, Noomi Rapace
Noomi Rapace
Noomi Rapace is a Swedish actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish/Danish film adaptations of the "Millennium series": The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest...
portrayed Lusbeth Salander and Michael Nyqvist
Michael Nyqvist
Rolf Åke Michael Nyqvist is a Swedish actor. Educated at the School of Drama in Malmö, he became well known from his role as police officer Banck in the first series of Beck movies made in 1997. He is recently most recognized for his role in the internationally acclaimed Millennium series as...
portrayed Mikael Blomkvist.
Filming began in early 2008, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opened in Sweden, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
in February–March 2009. In Norway and Denmark, it is the most viewed Swedish film ever, and in Sweden total admissions are above one million.
The films have been sold to Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, the Netherlands, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and the United States.
The film was acquired for theatrical and home video release by arthouse distributor Music Box Films
Music Box Films
Music Box Films is a highly acclaimed distributor of foreign and independent film in theatrical, DVD and television markets in the United States. Based in Chicago, it is owned and operated by the Southport Music Box Corporation...
. It had its American premiere on March 6, 2010 at the Miami Film Festival titled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The film opened in US theaters in limited release on March 19, 2010.
Played with Fire and Hornets' Nest were released in the United States in 2010 by Music Box Films. Men Who Hate Women opened in France on 13 May, and in Italy and Spain on 29 May 2009.
Played with Fire opened simultaneously in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark on 18 September 2009.
Hornet's Nest was released 27 November 2009 in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Finland in January 2010.
In the UK, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo opened to critical acclaim in March 2010 and made more than £2 million at the box office. Sales of the DVD on its 19 July release have made it the highest selling foreign language title of the year in the UK. The Girl Who Played with Fire was released in cinemas the UK on 27 August and the final installment, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is set for release on 26 November.
In 2010, David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
directed a Hollywood adaptation of the book
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011 film)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an upcoming English-language drama thriller film that is the second film based on the Swedish novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson. The first film was the 2009 Swedish-language adaptation. The upcoming film is written by Steven Zaillian and directed by David...
, for release in December 2011. According to The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, George Clooney
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
, Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, and Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
were all interested in playing the central role of Mikael Blomkvist, but Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
was officially confirmed as the lead in July 2010. On August 16, 2010, it was officially confirmed that Rooney Mara will play Lisbeth Salander. In the upcoming film, Robin Wright will play the role of Erika Berger, while Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
and Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, known internationally for his film roles in Angels & Demons, Breaking the Waves, The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,...
play the roles of Henrik and Martin Vanger respectively. In a reprise of their partnership on The Social Network
The Social Network
The Social Network is a 2010 American drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires, the film portrays the founding of social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits...
, Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
is collaborating with Fincher to create the soundtrack.
Parodies
- The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo (2010) - Adam Roberts
- The Girl with the Sturgeon Tattoo - Lars Arffssen
- The Girl who Fixed the Umlaut - Nora Ephron
See also
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009 film)
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011 film)The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011 film)The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an upcoming English-language drama thriller film that is the second film based on the Swedish novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson. The first film was the 2009 Swedish-language adaptation. The upcoming film is written by Steven Zaillian and directed by David...
- Millennium (Swedish miniseries)Millennium (Swedish miniseries)Millennium is a Swedish six-part television series that aired in 2010, which was based on the film trilogy of Stieg Larsson's Millennium series. The series was produced by Yellow Bird in cooperation with several production companies, including SVT, Nordisk Film and Film i Väst. Unlike the films,...
Publication details
- 2005, Swedish, Norstedts (ISBN 978-91-1-301408-1), pub date August? 2005, paperback (poss 1st edition)
- 2008, UK, MacLehose Press, (Quercus Imprint) (ISBN 978-1-84724-253-2), pub date 10 January 2008, hardback (trans as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Reg Keeland)
- 2008, US, Alfred A. Knopf (ISBN 978-0-307-26975-1), pub date 16 September 2008, hardback