Claire Foy is now circling the role of Lisbeth Salander in director Fede Alvarez' upcoming sequel/reboot, The Girl in the Spider's Web. The star of Netflix's award-winning historical drama The Crown, Foy would follow in the footsteps of Swedish actor Noomi Rapace and American actor Rooney Mara by playing the brilliant cyber-specialist/hacker with a dark past, Lisbeth Salander on the big screen, should she sign on for the project.
The Girl in the Spider's Web is based on the fourth installment in the Millennium book series overall and the first written by David Lagercrantz, following the death of the investigative journalist-turned author of the original Millennium novel trilogy, Stieg Larsson (who created the Lisbeth Salander character). The long-rumored news that Alvarez is directing Girl in the Spider's Web became official back in March of this year, at which point a 2018 theatrical release date was also announced - but with no mention of who would be taking over the role of Miss Salander.
THR says that Foy has the offer to play Lisbeth Salander in Girl in the Spider's Web, but that scheduling needs to be worked out before the deal can be finalized. In addition, THR's sources are reporting that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story's Felicity Jones was the other finalist for the Salander role, so Sony could potentially offer the Salander role to the Oscar-nominee Jones, should a deal with Foy fail to materialize. Also competing for Foy's attention at the moment is the upcoming Neil Armstrong biopic starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Gosling's La La Land collaborator, Damien Chazelle.
Director David Fincher's 2011 film adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (based on Larsson's first Millennium novel) was originally intended to be the first of multiple movies featuring Mara as Salander. That plan didn't work out for a few different reasons and so in 2015, reports emerged asserting that Sony would be instead rebooting/relaunching the Dragon Tattoo movie franchise with a different director and lead actor in tow. As such, The Girl in the Spider's Web could wind up serving as the start of a multi-film commitment for Foy, Jones or whoever does sign on to play Lisbeth Salander in the movie.
Alvarez certainly reads as a logical match for the Millennium film franchise, after his work on Evil Dead (2013) and Don't Breathe - dark and disturbing stories that also feature young female protagonists, similar to the saga of Lisbeth Salander - and either Foy or Jones reads on paper as being a worthwhile choice to play Miss Salander. If there is cause for concern, it's that the Millennium novels published since Larsson's death (all two of them, that is) have not recaptured the popularity of the original book trilogy and thus, the demand for a Girl in the Spider's Web movie is respectively lower. That some fans are still frustrated that Fincher and Mara didn't get to see their planned Dragon Tattoo trilogy through to the end, will not help Spider's Web's cause either.
NEXT: Spider's Web Director Explains Recasting Decision
Source: THR
