Dragon Tattoo

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross | "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" Early in the process for scoring "The Social Network," hard rock veterans Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross confessed to feeling out of their element. Sitting recently on his Beverly Hills porch, Reznor recalled, "That wasn't the type of film I thought I knew how to score. It's not the film I would have chosen had I set out to score a film. " Reznor and Ross eventually figured it out, as the digital, atmospheric accompaniment to "The Social Network" won the Oscar for original score.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has taken back full control of its legendary film label United Artists, is booking a loss on its recent release "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and has added a top TV executive to its board of directors, the independent studio revealed in financial filings this week. Formed in 1919 by film luminaries including Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, UA became part of MGM in 1981. In 2006, UA became a joint venture between MGM and Tom Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner, who together got 30% of the company.

After months of speculation over one of the most buzzed about casting choices in recent history, Sony has announced that actress Rooney Mara will play Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher's English-language version of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. " Mara, whose most notable credit so far is "The Nightmare on Elm Street," has already worked with Fincher on this fall's "The Social Network. " The 24-year-old had been rumored to be in running for the part, up against other relative newcomers such as French actress Léa Seydoux and Australian actresses Sarah Snook and Sophie Lowe.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Sony, $30.99; Blu-ray, $40.99 Director David Fincher and screenwriter Steven Zaillian adapt Stieg Larsson's bestseller "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" into a sophisticated and gripping thriller, sporting excellent lead performances by Daniel Craig as a disgraced reporter and Rooney Mara as a punk hacker. Larsson's story of a gruesome missing-person's case is gratuitously violent at times, and the film runs a little too long — in large part because it goes through about four endings before finally lurching to a stop.

It couldn't be further from the conventional period drama with the nipped-waist bodices and ostentatious accessories that frequently garner award show attention for costuming. Nonetheless, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," the American film based on the first book of Stieg Larsson's popular Millennium trilogy, is likely to attract some attention with its hard-hitting looks that reflect a darker side of contemporary street fashion. The producers of the film, which opens Dec. 20, put together a style dream team to transform actress Rooney Mara into Lisbeth Salander, a waifish, goth-punk heroine who becomes an unlikely ally for a journalist involved in a twisted mystery.

‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is such a grown-up treat, a mesmerizing thriller that takes its time unlocking one mystery only to uncover another, all to immensely satisfying effect. Based on the first novel in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, Danish director Niels Arden Oplev found a way to adapt one of Europe's most popular contemporary books, a bestselling sensation in the U.S. as well, and still infuse it with surprise.

David Fincher's highly anticipated take on the popular Swedish film "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," which has finally hit theaters, is already leaving its mark on moviegoers. The movie, starring Rooney Mara, opened in 2,700 theaters nationwide at 7 p.m. Tuesday and grossed a respectable $1.6 million, based on an estimate from distributor Sony Pictures. Those who saw the picture, based on the first novel in Swedish author Stieg Larsson's bestselling trilogy, loved it —giving it an average grade of A, according to market research firm CinemaScore.

When a team of Swedish producers known for their TV crime dramas asked Danish director Niels Arden Oplev if he'd be interested in helming their next project, his immediate response was "Haven't you made enough of those?" But this was to be no ordinary felony flick. This was the film version of author Stieg Larsson's international bestseller "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." And after reading the dense, engrossing tale of mass murder, business skulduggery and violence against women that features the oddball pairing of a disgraced, womanizing male journalist and an angry female punk computer hacker, Oplev was hooked.

Stieg Larsson's debut crime novel, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," leaves you wanting more from an odd investigative duo. The good news is that this is the first of his "Millennium" trilogy -- there are two more completed books to come -- but there's also bad news: Larsson died of a heart attack in 2004 at 50 before the mysteries were published, a premature end to a budding talent. There is a lot of buzz in Europe about these books, as there is about a whole slew of Scandinavian thrillers, and Larsson's rising reputation has preceded U.S. publication of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."

Woody Allen earned his 20th nomination Thursday for a Writers Guild of America Award for his original screenplay for "Midnight in Paris. " Allen, 76, received his first nomination from the WGA 46 years ago for "What's New Pussycat?" and won for 1977's "Annie Hall," 1984's "Broadway Danny Rose," 1986's "Hannah and Her Sisters" and 1989's "Crimes and Misdemeanors. " Comedies made a strong showing among the nominees this year. Joining Allen in the original screenplay category are Will Reiser for "50/50"; Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig for "Bridesmaids"; " Diablo Cody for "Young Adult"; and Tom McCarthy for "Win Win" (McCarthy shares story credit on the film with Joe Tiboni)

Low-cost horror movie "The Devil Inside" will try to do what Sherlock Holmes, Alvin and the Chipmunks and a girl with a dragon tattoo couldn't: knock Tom Cruise out of the top box-office spot. "The Devil Inside," about a woman investigating her mother's exorcisms, probably will open this weekend to between $12 million and $15 million, people who have seen pre-release audience surveys said. That should put it very close to Cruise's "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," which after two weekends in the No. 1 spot is expected to drop to about $15 million.

— In a pleated white dress, her jet-black bangs neatly trimmed, Golden Globe nominee Rooney Mara looks nothing like Lisbeth Salander as she relaxes in the drawing room of New York's Crosby Street Hotel. But it doesn't take long for the 26-year-old to show the resolve that helped land her the coveted lead role in the U.S. version of Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," vaulting over a scrum of top Hollywood actresses. Mara previously was best known for her opening tête-à-tête with Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network.

UNDERRATED Laura Marling's 'A Creature I Don't Know' : A U.K. singer-songwriter whose latest album made a splash among only select circles, Marling's twisting and addictive "A Creature I Don't Know" deserved a more fixed presence on the year-end lists of the last month. Though only a brain-scrambling 21, Marling is armed with a sharp, roomy voice and a wicked way with words that can recall a brilliant cross between Joni Mitchell and Lucinda Williams. Christopher Plummer : There are few late-career runs more unlikely yet as deserving as the 2011 enjoyed by this 82-year-old character actor.

As the lone artistic voice behind Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor regularly had the pleasure of answering to no one during NIN's approximately 20-year run of emotionally damaged hard rock. Now in his mid-40s and into his second career as a film composer, Reznor not only is having to learn a new discipline, but adjust to ceding control and holding back his reflex of saying 'no.' Take, for instance, the music that opens David Fincher's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," which marks the second film score for Reznor and his latter-days NIN producer Atticus Ross.

Geraldine James' face — those high cheekbones, sky-blue eyes and, what one London theater critic called her "Titian locks" — might look vaguely familiar. James is 61 now but still recognizable as Sarah Layton, the pivot point and conscience of "The Jewel in the Crown. " The 14-part "Masterpiece Theater" drama on the last days of British rule in India drew wide acclaim and a huge U.S. audience when it aired in 1984, thrusting the then-thirtysomething actress to the top rank of her profession.

Bettina Browne trained tigers for Fox's new family film "We Bought a Zoo," but of all the felines she's recently wrangled for movies, she considers the toughest customers to be the ordinary house cats she was tasked with taming for director David Fincher's dark, biting thriller, Sony's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. " "Tigers and lions are a little bit more dog-like in the sense that they still do like to please you," said Browne, who worked for Birds and Animals Unlimited on the two films.

David Fincher's highly anticipated take on the popular Swedish film "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," which has finally hit theaters, is already leaving its mark on moviegoers. The movie, starring Rooney Mara, opened in 2,700 theaters nationwide at 7 p.m. Tuesday and grossed a respectable $1.6 million, based on an estimate from distributor Sony Pictures. Those who saw the picture, based on the first novel in Swedish author Stieg Larsson's bestselling trilogy, loved it —giving it an average grade of A, according to market research firm CinemaScore.