David Fincher says Scarlett Johansson was too sexy for "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"
By James Brady RyanOctober 18th, 2011, 12:00 pmComments (10)
In the recent Vogue cover article on It-Girl ascendant Rooney Mara, director David Fincher talks a bit more about the much-sought after role of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and the reason why Scarlett Johansson lost out to a relative unknown despite an excellent audition. (Mara counts as an unknown, right? I mean, no one actually saw that remake of Nightmare On Elm Street, so...) Long story short: it's because most people agree that Johansson is super, super hot. Says Fincher,
Look, we saw some amazing people. Scarlett Johansson was great. It was a great audition, I’m telling you. But the thing with Scarlett is, you can’t wait for her to take her clothes off... I keep trying to explain this. Salander should be like E.T. If you put E.T. dolls out before anyone had seen the movie, they would say, ‘What is this little squishy thing?’ Well, you know what? When he hides under the table and he grabs the Reese’s Pieces, you love him! It has to be like that.
I'm sure Mara loved hearing that, but he's not exactly wrong. Johansson does have the aura of a bombshell, and Salander is described in the books as "anorexic" and generally boyish. Fincher's phrasing rubs me the wrong way a bit — I'd like to think that if she was acting so well you might be able to focus on something other than her body, and how naked it is under those pesky clothes — but I like the sound of his E.T. metaphor. I guess I know what movie I'll be taking my goddaughter to this Christmas!
Commentarium (10 Comments)
"I mean, no one actually saw that remake of Nightmare On Elm Street, so..."
I did. I had the misery of sitting through the whole thing, and it was awful in so many ways.
From the Department of Duh: yeah, Scarlett Johansson is waaaaay too hot to be Salander.
I still don't believe that Scarlett Johansson would have agree to the scene of being tied to a bed naked, and then raped. Sorry, I think her star power is too big for that kind of scene right now.
Plus, I like Ms Johansson, but she does not need to be in ever other movie Hollywood makes. Ugh.
"I'd like to think that if she was acting so well you might be able to focus on something other than her body, and how naked it is under those pesky clothes"
Unfortunately this is naive. Her physical description in the books is something addressed very regularly from various characters, and does play an important part in her role. If Salander was some curvy big breasted vixen with thick pouty lips, the entire illusion is dead in the water. Much of Salander's vulnerability stems from her less-than "ideal" physicality. It's kind of like not casting an attractive female and throwing braces and glasses on her and calling her Ugly Betty. I think Mara was a great choice, just as Noomi Rapace was for the Swedish versions.
Finch could obviously have explained it better, but I don't think Rooney has anything to worry about. She was cute as hell in Social Network (and I'd say playing an important role, albeit brief, in that pulls her out of the 'unknown' category).
Why bother seeing another shit remake of a very good foreign film?
agreed!!!
i agree!
We've had this conversation before, but yeah, remakes rarely better the original.
The other problem is that Scarlett Johansson is a very inconsistent actress. Did anyone see her in Girl with a Pearl Earring? She worked in Match Point and Vicky Cristina Barcelona because the characters did not have a rich inner life or great depth to convey, but she would be completely out of her depth as Lisbeth Salander.
I'm not sure if he was saying it's just that Scarlett is hot - she's made her career playing hypersexualized characters, so the audience is pretty much conditioned to go "va-va-voom" when they see her. It's better if Lisbeth is played by someone with a bit of mystery, less of a typecast image.
I also think Scarlett is a really weak actress, but maybe that's just me.