Lakeith Stanfield's star has quickly been rising over the past few years, thanks to roles in Get Out, Atlanta, and indie satire Sorry To Bother You. This year he will also star in Fede Alvarez's The Girl in the Spider's Web - a new movie about the girl with the dragon tattoo, Lisbeth Salander.
The Girl in the Spider's Web is the fourth book in the Millennium series created by Stieg Larsson, and the first in the series written by David Lagercrantz, who took over the story after Larsson passed away in 2004. Stanfield plays Ed Needham, an NSA agent who is horrified when an upstart hacker (guess who) breaks into the NSA's files and steals some extremely compromising information. Determined to track down the hacker, Needham leaves his comfy office chair behind and goes on a manhunt in Stockholm to try and find the culprit - while Lisbeth herself deals with a deadly conspiracy and the return of her estranged sister, Camilla.
Screen Rant paid a visit to the set of The Girl in the Spider's Web earlier this year, where we spoke to Stanfield and his co-stars Sylvia Hoeks (who plays Camilla) and Sverrir Gudnason (who plays Mikael Blomkvist) about this revamped take on Lisbeth Salander's world.
- This Page: Ed Needham's Personality, His Connection to Lisbeth, and More
- Page 2: Needham's Lost Data, Claire Foy's Version Of Lisbeth, and More
Lakeith Stanfield: They told me that I have to say only good things about this film.
But what's your real take?
LS: You'll never know.
Can you just talk about what that dynamic between Ed and Lisbeth? I mean, you're hunting her down.
LS: Yeah. My character just wants to find her to secure some very precious cargo that she's stolen, that could potentially hold in the balance the future of the world. And so really his motivation is to stop it from getting into the wrong hands, and he assumes that it might have been in the wrong hands, having been taken by... who he finds out is Lisbeth. So he just spends his time knocking down trees, jumping over fire pits, rolling around in the snow, trying to find this woman. His relationship with her... it changes throughout the story and becomes one of like - first of all, who is this unknown entity? And then he finds out who it is, and then they develop a little partnership.
Does he have an admiration for her, as a fellow computer nerd?
LS: Who doesn't? Yeah, I think so. I think he's every in awe of what she's able to pull off, the things she's able to accomplish. He's like, "How does one person do all of this?" So I think there's a little admiration, although I don't think he might admit it.
Related: The Girl in the Spider's Web: Claire Foy Interview
In the book Ed is quite an abrasive character. He's not very popular in the workplace because he's a bit of an asshole. Is that the same in the movie, or is he a little bit more mellow?
LS: I don't view him as an asshole. I think he just doesn't take time and engage in small talk too much, just really not with the shits, just getting straight to the point. I think he has to be to do the kind of work he does. Of course he deals with information and a lot of sensitive, high-security type thing. So you could maybe get a cold disposition from him, he could maybe be perceived that way because he doesn't spill his guts out and talk about things, and he would probably need to be a less emotional person to do the work that he does. So maybe one might view him that way, but I view him as actually just a person who takes his time and moves fast, if that makes sense...
I couldn't play an asshole, I think he's just a part of me that, like I said, takes its time and moves fast. You got to get shit done but you have to wait for power move, which gives him this coolness.
Is Fede quite a hands-off director, like he casts you and lets you do what you want, or...?
LS: He's been getting on my nerve since we started this thing. [Laughter]. No, it's a great collaboration, really, and one that I really cherish. You don't always realize how much you will appreciate a director and their discussions with the character about you until it happens... he's just so intelligent and aware of the story and all its many details in a way that I think a director should be. And it's nice, I haven't worked with a director quite like him. And his visual style is so good. I think he's a good actor's director because he sees things visually before they happen, and that's important, so I'm not always having to run back to the monitor to make sure I'm still within the vision, he kind of already has that there. And that's nice, it's a nice gift...
And he's really open and malleable too, like there were certain parts of the story that I thought initially didn't make very much sense, or certain things that Needham might do or situations he might be in that I didn't really feel went with the character. And I would voice them, and we would change the fabric of scenes, and whole things were able to change just based on some notes I was giving. So not only did he have a vision, but he was listening and able to dance with us, and that's equally important because you don't want to feel like you're running into a brick wall.
Page 2: Ed Needham's Lost Data, Claire Foy's Version Of Lisbeth, and More
We know a little something about the technology at the center of the movie... Why is it we keep building Skynet?
LS: [Laughs] I don't know, man, transhumanism, man, it's a real thing. I don't know, but the world is scared. You know, sometimes movies like this provide a little insight as to where we might be going when it comes to certain things, and technology in particular... I remember reading a part of the script and being like, "I could see that being a real thing. It's crazy, but I could see it." I wish I could tell you guys what it is, but you shall see. But yeah, I could definitely see that in the next five to ten years, being real - if it's not already real. They could have some military insight that I don't know about.
We've seen two versions of Lisbeth Salander already. Can you guys talk a bit about what Claire brings to the performance and how her iteration is unique?
LS: I think Claire, for me, what's been valuable to see in her is the way she acts off-screen, her countenance, and how she's always in a very balanced mood, as far as I've seen. And it's been quite nice. A lot of times the tone is set by the lead and sort of created for the rest of us, and they're going through the heaviest workload, so if they're able to show up and have a good time sometimes your insecurities as an actor, which - I don't know about anybody else but I'm full of them sometimes! - are sort of done away with by being surrounded by someone who just does it so effortlessly but also still is able to, when they call cut, just be fine. You know, it's a really big story, a really big project, so it's easy to get nervous about a lot of things, but with her and Fede together it's like you just feel cool...
I kind of get the sense that, just in the little bit of things I've seen - most of my stuff is just trying to find her [laughter] - but in the little bit of things I've seen I get the sense that there's some kind of real connection to Lisbeth's ambitions and sort of her view of the world and sort of her righteousness, she has a certain righteousness, and wanting to help the less fortunate... You kind of get a sense that there's a little bit of that in Claire. I could be wrong but I see that. And I think that's important, you have to feel what your character feels and sort of believe that, but I think it's cool. Like, they don't call cut and she's like, "Alright, let's go murder babies!" [laughter]. So yeah, it's nice.
Always a good quality in a co-star.
LS: Yeah. But you'd be surprised how rare it might be.
What was it for you guys when you picked up the script that got you interested in the project and the roles that you have? What connected with you?
LS: Yeah, also there's times where - going back to Fede, and not to stroke his ego any more - but if there's a scene where you have a lot of people doing a lot of different things and sometimes you need to get your shot, and so the guy with the camera he has to make sure he's doing it right, he's just like, "Would you mind moving that over to here?" and I'm like, "Aah..." And Fede's like, "Does it feel natural for it to be over there?" And I'm like, "Ehhh." And he's like, "Do the natural thing." The natural thing always takes precedence over everything else, and that's really great for me as an actor. My style is typically a little bit more of a natural approach, so it's nice to just be like, "Just do what you think is right... just go and roll with the scene." Sometimes directors might sacrifice certain things - one thing he won't sacrifice is the rawness.
Would you say that this film is being made with a sequel in mind, or with a mind to continue the story afterwards?
LS: I hope they get a sequel, for me! I just want to come back.
