When Lisbeth Salander returns to the big screen in The Girl in the Spider's Web, she'll have a ghost from her past to contend with. Specifically, her sister Camilla, who is played by Blade Runner 2049 star Sylvia Hoeks. Also returning to her life is dogged investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist, who this time around is played by Sverrir Gudnason (Borg McEnroe).
The Girl in the Spider's Web was directed by Fede Alvarez (Don't Breathe) and stars Claire Foy as Lisbeth Salander - the role previously played by Rooney Mara and Noomi Rapace. The film is an adaptation of the fourth novel in the Millennium series (only the first three have previously been adapted), and sees Lisbeth caught up in a web of cyber-crime, assassination, and conspiracy, while also being forced to confront the trauma of her childhood and her memories of her father.
Screen Rant paid a visit to the set of The Girl in the Spider's Web earlier this year, where we spoke to Hoeks and Gudnason along with their co-star, Lakeith Stanfield. Here's what they had to say about this latest twisted tale of the girl with the dragon tattoo.
- This Page: Camilla and Blomkvist's Relationships With Lisbeth
- Page 2: Working With Fede Alvarez and Claire Foy
As her estranged twin sister, can you talk about some of the mixed feelings that Camilla might have?
Sylvia Hoeks: In my view... she really missed [Lisbeth] a lot. I think that is the most that I can tell you about this character [laughs]. It's hard to tell you a lot without revealing anything - I'd like to! But I think they're both very intriguing characters and I think they support each other in their history, but they have such a past that it would be hard to reconnect.
We saw a glimpse of some flashback scenes, to their childhood. Is that something we're going to see a lot of - where they came from and their relationship with their father?
SH: I think that's what this film is really also about, is the past and what we see of the past, there's a lot of Lisbeth's past revealed through this film, and Camilla's a big part of that. I think what we know of Lisbeth is she's a very strong female character that represents kind of a Robin Hood, but for women, abused women. She's striving for them, and I think in a time like this, that's very important. And to have another strong female character next to her that reflects on her past and the pain that she has... that is something that we want to know and we want to learn more about.
What's your take on that [to Gudnason]?
Sverrir Gudnason: I play Blomkvist, the journalist and editor of the magazine, and Blomkvist and Salander had a lot to do with each other in the past and she's a very, very special person for him. She's his fuel, in a way. And when she needs his help, he's always there to do what he can.
In the book, Blomkvist is under fire for being a bit of a dinosaur.
SG: Yeah, I mean he kind of lost his mojo in the beginning of the story, but reteaming with [Lisbeth] and starting this mission gets him going again.
Related: The Girl in the Spider's Web: Lakeith Stanfield Interview
Is Blomkvist kind of the entry point character, who needs the technological jargon explained?
SG:I would say he's probably one of the- he might be the only normal person in the movie, for sure.
SH: [Laughs] What is normal?
We've seen Lisbeth and Blomkvist's relationship explored before in films. Is this a little different than we've seen their dynamic before?
SG: I mean, they share a very special bond, and I can't really reveal how it's done in this movie but I can say that they're very, very special to each other.
You were talking about how you couldn't have predicted things would have happened the way they did over the past several months in the entertainment industry, but what do you imagine the conversations will be like by November, and how welcome will this character be?
SH: I really think that for women and the characters that are written for actresses, I think there's a really good vibe and a really good wave of interesting female characters, and I think this movie's one of them, and [Lisbeth] was one of the first few great female characters in cinema. So to see another film of her will be fantastic to have that legacy going forward. I think in a time like this it will hopefully be more applauded and seen.
Page 2: Working With Fede Alvarez and Claire Foy
Can you guys talk a bit about working with Fede and how he works with you on performance?
SG: He's just a great person and a great director, I love working with him. He started this whole shoot off with a Uruguayan barbecue, and you kind of sensed immediately that he was good to work with, very talented and had his heart in the right place.
One of the things that everyone loved about Luv [in Blade Runner] was that she was very ruthless and vulnerable at the same time. Are there any similarities with this character...?
SH: No! [Laughs] I mean, the similarity is me playing the part, I guess.
Sure. She looks very similar.
SH: Yeah, I still have bangs! No, I really wanted to create a blank- kind of a new palette for Camilla. Hence the bleached eyebrows and the bleached hair... I wanted to really have a new instrument to play with, and she has some similarities in a certain kind of pain, but I think every human being does and we can identify with that. And I just found this character very compelling and very intriguingly helpful to the story and when I read the part I was really just, "Yeah, that's me, I want to play that." So when I think of Luv and being afraid of doing the same thing, it's not the same thing, but of course she has some similarities in her way of viewing certain things. When I read the script I really felt very close to Camilla.
Do we see a lot of the internal politics of Millennium magazine?
SG: Yeah, that's really how it starts, with Blomkvist getting pushed out of his magazine. For me, playing the character, it's been played before by two people, and you can ask every actor who's done a character in a revival of a famous play, to take over a part is something special. I'm a big fan of Daniel Craig's, but also for me stepping into the shoes of Michael Nyqvist, who was a good friend of mine and who died recently, is a big thing for me.
Related: The Girl in the Spider's Web: Fede Alvarez Interview
What kind of stage is Blomqvist at in his life in this movie? Is he a little bit jaded perhaps?
SG: I would say he's a little bit down on his luck when it starts. But then of course reteaming with Salander gives him some fuel.
Like you said, we've seen Blomkvist twice, we've seen Lisbeth Salander as well. Can you guys talk a bit about what Claire brings to the performance and how her iteration is unique?
SH: Yeah, it's true, she's all about the work and she's - I don't want to say she's serious, because she's a lot of fun - but she really comes across as somebody who takes on this character in their own way. She sees what she sees in the character and really goes for that. And then discussing our relationship and the characters was really good because she's a very open person and I'm a very open person, so you just work together and you feel very committed and very safe. You know, there's no game-playing, there's no ego, she's just working hard and she loves her job, and she's brilliant, so I'm really happy to work with her.
SG: Yeah, she's brilliant. And of course it's a crazy leap from the Queen to Salander, but it's so right, and she's so right for the part, so I'm really happy to be working with her.
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?
SH: Well I'm the middle sister of three girls, so I really felt the sister part was... I could identify so much with, you know, if you grow up with two other women so close to you, you follow them in life and you share your views with them in hard times. There's a lot to feel when you read a script like that, where there's obviously love between the two, but a difficult time between them as well. And I really reflected on that and could identify with that very much.
And I saw Don't Breathe and I thought that was very well done. Visually he's so strong, in the way he tells a story, Fede is not afraid to find that rawness and find the heat. He really wants to show... he's really not afraid of showing the rawness, the guts. And we need that, I think. I love seeing that in movies. When I go to a movie, I want to see stuff that I don't see in my normal life, and I want to see it all. And I want to step out of the cinema and just go for ice cream. I want t have that experience without having that experience. And I think he's great doing that, he's wonderful doing that. So that's why I wanted to play the character.
