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Paying Attention:
Fans of author Steig Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander series of novels (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest), which were a part of an enormously popular series of books he called ” Millennium” series” will be pleased to note that yet another movie based on Larsson’s writings is coming to the big screen.  The novels–which all became international best sellers–were found and published after Larsson’s death from a heart attack at age 50. They were an immediate sensation.
A Swedish production company made Swedish language versions of each of the first three books and then American director David Fincher made an exceptionally well-received and highly honored English language film version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, starring Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig. The success of all of the films combined with Larsson’s original series of three  books prodded Larsson’s publisher to commission more novels in the Lisbeth Salander series (Salander was the charismatic, gifted, computer hacker/goth/punk genius who was at the center of Larsson’s novels), with the continuation series written by Swedish writer David Lagercratz. The publisher’s plan is to create a total of 10 novels (including the three that Larsson originally wrote) because Larsson’s original plan for   “Millennium” was to produce 10 novels, according to some accounts.
Larsson’s early death set off an international intra-family war over the rights to his novels and their future. Larsson did not leave a will and rights to his novels passed to his brother and father (with whom he did not have a good relationship). The rights would have gone to his wife, had he been married, but he never married his long-time girlfriend (there were rather unique, Swedish, personal security issues involved). There is a raging argument about how many Larsson novels might be in existence: his girlfriend has his laptop on which claims have been made that it contains a fourth book in the “Millennium Series” and the brother and father claim that they have manuscripts for between three and four novels. Only time will tell. Interestingly, Larsson himself was very much like Mikael Blomkvist, the investigative journalist/editor who is one of the main characters in Larsson’s writing. Larsson’s view of Swedish culture and society was shaped by his work as a journalist/investigative journalist and his vision of Sweden is unusual for the dark elements of Swedish culture that he brings into the light: white supremacy, Nazi sympathizers, toxic right wing enablers and believers. Larsson’s long time girl friend, Eva Gabrielsson, has been quoted as saying that the actions depicted in Larsson’s books were real events, and that none were made up. Sobering.
Larsson did not live to see his books published or movies based on his books produced ( at the time of his death he had not submitted any of the three books he had written to a publishing house) and the enormous commercial success of the books (and films) created a firestorm of demand for more: more books, more films. That demand is being filled.
There is a new Lisbeth Salander movie coming this fall: it is The Girl In The Spider’s Web and is based on one of the novels written by Dave Lagercraz. The cast has been changed out, with Claire Foy,  who shot to stardom in Netflix’s series The Crown,  taking over the role of Lisbeth Salander from Rooney Mara and director Fede Alvarez replacing the more experienced David Fincher (The Social Network, Fight Club, Gone Girl). Reasons for these changes are unclear (why change out a winning combination to test a new combination). The latest iteration of a Lisbeth Salander film with the all-new team behind it is scheduled for release in Sweden in October and for distribution/release in the United States in November of this year and a preview is embedded in this post. You are strongly encouraged to read some of the back story behind Steig Larsson’s life, his books, and the incredible character he created, Lisbeth Salander, by clicking the links in this intro. It’s as fascinating as one of his novels.
Enjoy the trailer and read the book–always–before you see the movie.
 
 
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