http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... attoo.html
Daniel Craig could be swapping vodka martinis (shaken not stirred) for a
shot or two of akvavit, with the news that he's to star in the Hollywood version of Stieg Larsson's novel The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
The James Bond actor is to play the hero's role of journalist Mikael Blomkvist, with the UK's own An Education star Carey Mulligan rumoured to be joining him as heroine Lisbeth Salander.
Other actresses in the frame, according to film website Deadline, include Juno's Ellen Page, Mia Wasikowska, who was Alice in Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland and Australian actress Emily Browning from the forthcoming Sucker Punch.
Craig will start shooting the blockbuster thriller in the autumn and it is scheduled for a December 2011 release.
Apparently, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, George Clooney and Viggo Mortensen were all considered for the lead role, but Craig trumped them all.
The role in the three Scandinavian original adaptations of the late Larsson's Millennium Trilogy novels was played by Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist, alongside fellow Swede, co-star Noomi Rapace.
With the new James Bond movie on hold while the studio behind the franchise, debt-ridden Metro Goldwyn Mayer, try and find a buyer, having a new source of income will probably be welcome to Mr Craig.
He's just shelled out £1.2million for a New York apartment to go with his £4million London home.
It had been reported that American Beauty director Sam Mendes had been lined up to direct the 23rd flick in the 007 franchise, which started with Dr No in 1962.
But production company EON confirmed in a statement at the beginning of this month: “We do not know when development will resume and cannot comment further at this stage.”
If the US remake of the first of Larsson's books is a success, at the very least, Craig has another couple of films to keep him busy until Bond bounces back.
Larsson, who died in 2004, has now sold more than 27 million copies of his books in more than 40 countries.
Craig meanwhile has just launched another of his forthcoming movies, Cowboys and Aliens, at San Diego's Comic Con, one of the biggest film, TV and comic book conventions in the world.
A sci-fi fantasy, it's out next summer.