The Costco magazine had an article this month about the wildly successful Steig Larsson Millennium book and films, and described them as "Harry Potter for grown-ups." I'm not type of reader to pick up the latest bestseller, and usually run in the other direction when I hear the words Oprah or hottest book on the planet. But like 46 million other people, I got hooked on the Dragon Tattoo books and since September read the series straight through. You might know that the author passed away before he knew how popular and lucrative his series became. The attraction is all about his characters, in particular Lisbeth Salander, a mentally odd but brilliant computer hacker and goth vigilante. The Swedish film director Neils Arden, part of the team who brought the story to the screen, describes Lisbeth Salander as "the scariest thing to come out of Sweden since ABBA." Ha!
We haven't seen The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo film yet, but have it on the Netflix queue. It was made for $5.5 million and has grossed $100 million in Europe, making it the most successful Swedish film ever. Speaking of gross, well-- that would describe some of the violent scenes in the books. But least I'll know what's coming when we watch the movies...
Taylor told me they are remaking it as an American film. She feels sure they will have to omit some of the scenes that wouldn't fly with mainstream American audiences, critics and film rating people. She recommends we see the Swedish version and skip the American version. I haven't seen it yet, or read the books, but it's good to have something to look forward to.
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