Enter the ‘Dragon’: David Fincher’s latest Oscar bait

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There are two things that Oscar voters adore: 1) overdue, cool directors with edgy new films and 2) movies based upon books that have a fanatical following.

That combo bodes well for David Fincher’s new release this Oscar season: ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.’ The helmer is considered to be so hip with academy voters that his last two flicks earned nominations for best picture and director: (‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,’ ‘The Social Network’). Both were also based upon notable published material: a classic short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald (‘Button’) and a bestseller about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (‘Social Network’).

‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ is a crime thriller based upon the hit ‘Millennium series’ of books by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. A Scandinavian film version was directed in 2009 by Danish director Niels Arden Oplev. The new English-language screen version was penned by Steven Zaillian, who won an Oscar for ‘Schindler’s List’ and was nominated for ‘Awakenings’ and ‘Gangs of New York.’ It stars Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer and Rooney Mara, who is considered to be a strong Oscar contender for lead actress.

-- Tom O’Neil

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