Leading man Daniel Craig could be written out of The Girl Who Played With Fire by Sony due to cost cutting, as the studio looks to fiscally sharpen the upcoming sequel.
Since 2011’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo‘s huge success, there’s been questions regarding the release of its sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire. The two films mark the first two parts of a beloved three part series by the late novelist Steig Larsson, and audiences are keen on seeing it completely adapted for film in the English language.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo made a staggering $233 million worldwide on a $90 million budget, which is not a bad profit considering the film was R-rated and riding on the coattails of an already made Swedish adaptation. So what’s the hold up?
Many people assumed it was the involvement of David Fincher. The director is in high demand as of late, being in early talks to direct an adaptation of the psychological thriller Gone Girl and seen as one of the cornerstones to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo‘s success. Fincher, however, is not responsible — Daniel Craig’s involvement is.
The Hollywood Reporter claims Daniel Craig wishes to receive a pay increase for his involvement in the next two sequels in the wake of Skyfall‘s rampant success that earned $1 billion worldwide. Craig wishes to be involved with the films, but refuses to take a pay cut. With Sony’s intentions to cut costs, tensions are at an all time high.
Daniel Craig‘s role as Mikael Blomkvist, and that character’s relationship with Lisbeth Salander — played by Rooney Mara — is seen as one of the meaty dramas in the series, but the next two books mainly focus on Salander. In other words, while the films’ quality could most definitely suffer in Blomkvist’s absence, a Craig write-around is not impossible.
What do you think? Would The Girl Who Played With Fire work without one of its principal characters and dramatic relationships? Will it still stay true to the novels? Does that even matter? Let us know and we’ll be sure to keep you in the loop as more information is released.
