Ansel Elgort Is Augustus Waters in "The Fault in Our Stars" Opposite Shailene Woodley

From siblings to star-crossed lovers! EW reports rising star Ansel Elgort has been offered the male lead in "The Fault in Our Stars" opposite Shailene Woodley - who plays his sister in the currently-filming dystopian adaptation "Divergent." The two Read more

Dylan O'Brien Lands "The Maze Runner" Lead; Ki Hong Lee Also Joins

UPDATE: Director Wes Ball tweets that Ki Hong Lee has also joined the cast as Minho, a fellow Glader and ally to Thomas throughout the series. Lee is probably best known as a regular on short-lived ABC Family Read more

Shailene Woodley Confirmed for "The Fault in Our Stars"

I mean, duh, we called it. It has now been officially confirmed with glowing quotes from director, producer and author in tow that the increasingly in demand Shailene Woodley will play the lead role of Hazel Grace Lancaster Read more

Up and Comers Presents: 20 Faces to Watch in 2013

After a somewhat unpredictable year in which the stars we expected to break out largely didn't but fresh faces came out of nowhere to surprise us all, we are ready to look ahead to the new talent waiting to Read more

Up and Comers Presents: The Breakout Stars of 2012

Another year, another new crop of fresh talent. Just like last year, the hardest part is narrowing down which of the dozens of the year's rising stars shone the brightest. This year we heralded the arrival of the unlikeliest Read more
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stieg larsson

Possible “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” viral site launched with new b-roll and set photos

September 6, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in General News, Videos 1 Comment

While checking the referral stats here on U&C, I ran across a curious site called Mouth-Taped-Shut.com, which at first glimpse seemed like a Tumblr fan-run website for the upcoming David Fincher adaptation of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (our referral: a reblog of our article on “Dragon Tattoo” star Rooney Mara’s possible collaboration with Terrance Malick).

Our first clue that this was not just an ordinary collection of info on the movie from around the web: this never-before-seen photo of Moa Garpendal and Mathilda von Essen, who play practically identical cousins Harriet and Anita Vanger in flashback scenes. But what pushed it over the edge was the following video, shot in crystal clear clarity (and at quite close range) of Fincher watching Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist on a monitor and after calling cut, asks the actor to “lift the left side of the bible a teeny bit!” Gotta love Fincher!

Color us intrigued! What do you think?

Green band trailer and red band poster for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”

June 2, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images, Videos 1 Comment

The marketing machine at Sony is kicking off the campaign for David Fincher’s adaptation of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” full stop with the release of the official green band teaser trailer, which is mostly similar to the leaked red band trailer (which has been removed) but with a few new clips. Also released is a slightly NSFW teaser poster, which, four months ago, everyone was positive would never see the day.

Nevertheless, it’s seeing the light of day now, though the official movie website requires you to enter your full name, zip code and birthdate before viewing it. That girl with her nipple pierced is Rooney Mara, who stars in the film as Lisbeth Salander, a genius computer hacker and crusader against men who perpetrate crimes against women. Daniel Craig is Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist who enlists Salander’s help in solving a decades old cold case of a missing girl from an affluent family. The late Stieg Larsson’s international best-selling novel spawned at least two sequels, “The Girl Who Played with Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”, with rumors of a fourth novel running amuck amidst highly contentious legal battles between Larsson’s estranged family and his longtime girlfriend. Craig and Mara have the standard three picture deal in place with the studio, but Fincher has committed only to the first.

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” opens in theaters on December 21, which allows the studio to give it a catchy “Feel Bad Movie of Christmas” tagline, countering the plethora of sugary, family-friendly films plundering the box office around the same time.

See below for the trailer and red band poster.

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First official look at Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”

January 12, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images, Interviews 2 Comments

Wow! Rooney Mara is nearly unrecognizable on the February cover of W magazine, posing in character as goth hacker Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s adapatation of Stieg Larsson’s Swedish best-selling series “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. Fincher and Mara spoke to W’s Lynn Herschberger from the set.

Despite the highly publicized casting process, Fincher wanted Mara from the beginning. He did see other girls, big names like Natalie Portman, who was coming off three movies and was too exhausted, Scarlett Johansson, deemed too sexy, and a then unknown Jennifer Lawrence, who was too tall. “It was hard,” Fincher recalled. “We had five or six girls audition with the rape scene. The girls had to kick a dildo up his ass. That’s Salander’s big scene, and we had to see if they could do it.” Mara, among the final five or six with fellow unknows Sophie Lowe, Katie Jarvis and Emilly Browning, was put through the ringer. “David added the rape scene at the last minute, and I said, ‘Ohmigod! They must be really serious.’ They did one test, then another a week later. They shot me in the subway in L.A. in full hair and makeup with a motorcycle. Every day they had a new request. On a Monday morning, David called me in, and I said, ‘What do you want me to do to my hair now?’ I was at the end of my rope. He told me I had the part. I hadn’t even read the script yet.” Five days later, she was in Sweden and in motorcycle training. An even more in-depth look at Fincher and the film can be read in the full article.

Co-starring Daniel Craig as journalist Mikael Blomkvist, Robin Wright, Stellan Skarsgard and Christopher Plummer, the film will shoot well into the spring to be ready for a December 21, 2011 release.

See a bigger version of the W cover and one more from the shoot below.

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“Dragon Tattoo” Girls on Elle’s Power List

November 4, 2010 | Posted by Linda Ge in Lists Leave a comment

They play the same role in different adaptations of the same book and the internet seems intent on pitting them against each other, but Deadline Hollywood’s Nikki Finke puts Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara, both portraying Lisbeth Salander in separate adaptations of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, on equal footing in Elle Magazine’s annual Women in Hollywood Power List.

Here’s what Finke had to say about the two Salanders:

Rapace is Hollywood’s new It Girl. As the hard-ass-on-a-Harley heroine in the Swedish version of Stieg Larsson’s book trilogy, most famously The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, she’s being considered for an Oscar. Rooney Mara won the most closely watched casting search for an actress since Gone With the Wind to star as Lisbeth Salander in the Hollywood version of Dragon Tattoo. That, and her big role in The Social Network, makes her the “get” of every media outlet.

Indeed, both women seem on the precipice of becoming bona-fide Hollywood stars, due in no small part to their association with the Salander role. Rapace has already played Salander (and is “done with her”) and is currently filming the “Sherlock Holmes” sequel in London for director Guy Ritchie. She is also said to be a favorite of Ridley Scott’s for the highly sought-after “Alien” prequel. Mara is currently shooting the first English language “Dragon Tattoo” adaptation with Daniel Craig for David Fincher in Sweden.