Claire Foy goes rogue for Girl in the Spider’s Web, but is it really necessary?
By Amy Woolsey
Hollywood really wants to make a Girl with the Dragon Tattoo sequel happen, so now Claire Foy will have the chance to take on Lisbeth Salander.
Remember when everyone and their dad was obsessed with Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy? Well, the powers that be at Sony Pictures hope that era isn’t quite past yet. After years of dilly-dallying, the studio is finally moving ahead with its Girl with the Dragon Tattoo sequel. Original director David Fincher and star Rooney Mara aren’t involved, though.
Late Friday morning, Sony announced that they have found a new Lisbeth Salander: Claire Foy. Instead of completing the original trilogy, they will skip to the fourth installment, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, written after Larsson’s death in 2004.
Claire Foy
At first, Foy seems like an unexpected choice. The 33-year-old British actress has garnered acclaim — including an Emmy nomination — for playing Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s The Crown. Previously, she played Lady Persephone Towyn in an Upstairs, Downstairs revival and Anne Boleyn in a miniseries adaptation of Wolf Hall. We’re certainly interested in seeing her exchange the elaborate period costumes for Lisbeth’s black leather and piercings.
Still, it’s frustrating to watch Hollywood usher every young (white, petite) actress into an action franchise. To start with, it results in a crop of action heroines that look more or less identical to each other. It also does a disservice to actresses whose talents lie in something other than the ability to look unfazed while vanquishing a dozen guys with your bare hands. Even now, I wonder what Jennifer Lawrence’s career would look like if she followed up Winter’s Bone with more indie films instead of The Hunger Games.
Lisbeth Salander
The real problem, however, is that no one is clamoring for more Lisbeth Salander movies. (Or if anyone is, they’re keeping quiet about it.) In theory, she’s a great character — the kind of messy, brilliant, dangerous antihero that women rarely get to be. But her story lets her down. In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, she exists mostly to be victimized and then redeemed by men. She is a feminist avenger trapped in a male fantasy.
Lisbeth first appeared onscreen in a trio of films by Swedish director Niels Arden Oplev. Noomi Rapace received abundant praise for her performance; many considered her the definitive version of the character. Of course, that didn’t stop Hollywood from trying to capitalize on the novels’ success itself. In a director/material pairing seemingly made in heaven, Sony handed the reins to pulp auteur David Fincher, who cast Mara in the lead role after working with her for The Social Network. But The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo failed to attract audiences or win over critics upon its 2011 release. In fact, it is most memorable for its trailer set to Karen O’s “Immigrant Song” cover.
Bottom line: maybe it’s time to move on. There are enough unnecessary sequels floating around the cinematic universe as it is.
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The Girl in the Spider’s Web has a release date of Oct. 19, 2018. Fede Alvarez will direct.