FilmSkool — a free film school
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a 2011 neo-noir mystery thriller film directed by David Fincher from a screenplay by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson. Starring Daniel Craig as journalist Mikael Blomkvist and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander, it tells the story of Blomkvist's investigation to find out what happened to a girl from a wealthy family who had disappeared…
Directed by David Fincher · Shot by Jeff Cronenweth · Cut by Kirk Baxter · Music by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross · 158 min
How it was made
- The film was shot entirely on RED Digital Cinema's RED MX digital camera, chosen by David Fincher and cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth to employ unorthodox light sources and keep a realistic, non-glossy look.
- Production designer Donald Graham Burt spent a month touring Sweden to study its architecture, landscapes and daily habits before designing the film's sets.
- Rooney Mara's hair was dyed black and cut into jagged points to look self-inflicted, part of a transformation described as blending seventies punk with eighties goth.
- On Queen Street in Uppsala, the crew renovated a building facade to mimic the Hotel Alder, working from an old photograph Fincher had found.
- Screenwriter Steven Zaillian spent roughly six months on the script, including three months purely taking notes and analysing the novel before writing.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by David Fincher
This is the plain index, shown because JavaScript is off. Every lesson here is a free video published by the channel credited on it and plays through that channel's own embed — FilmSkool hosts nothing.