>> rose:e: welcome to r program. tonight, the much-anticipated film "the girl with e dragon taoo" based on the novel by stieg larsson. we have the director david fincher, the actors rooney mara, daniel cig, christher plummer, stellan skarsgard and robin wright. >> no one her particurl kes her. i find it's much better if she works from home. >> but you told her i wanted to meet with her. >> but i've told her many more times i'd prefer her not to meet clients. >> you like her? >> very much. she's one of the best investigators i have, as you saw from her repor >> but? >> she's different. >> in what way? >> in every way.

lisbeth? >> how do you do. >> something wrong with the report? >> no, it was quite thorough. but i'm also interested in what's not in it. >> there's nothing not in it. >> your opinion of him isn't it. >> he's clean in my opinion. >> you mean he's hygienic. >> he represents himself to be. >> i was fascinated with the fact that, you know, a 60-yeaold man, 58-year-old women, 17-ye-old girls were all finding something about her that was freeing or empowering in some kind of way and it had been kind of sold to me a this

misogynist avenger. but what i felt about it was ultimately that there wasn't any kind of real feminist tack to it at all. to me it' veryuman it's a story of being oppressed and the story of being marginalized and the story of being made to feel less than... a character who's being made to feel less than who she thinks she is. and the movie begins with blomkvist as well. he's thought he had all the answers, he has been taken down a few pegs and he is reassessing himself and these two people, the dance and then ultimately the way ey fit together as a partnership w... it w ver beautiful and made... it's very compelling. >> rose: "the girl with the dragon tattoo," next.

captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: stieg larsson's millennium trilogy has become one of the most recognizable pieces of popular culture. the thrillers have sold over 65 million copies in 46 countries. "the girl wi the dragon tattoo" is the first in that trilogy. it introduces us to lisbeth salander and mikael blomkvist. the "new york times" calls salander "a fierce pixie of a heroine and one of the most original characters to come along in a while." the book has been turned into a

new movie by davidfincher. and here is the trailer. >> she's one of the best investigators i have. >> but? >> she's different. >> in what way? >> in every way. >> something wrong with the report? >> anything you chose not to disclose? >> he's clean in my opinion. he's honest. >> your credibility isn't dead yet. >> mine is. >> he's had a long standing sexual relationship with his co-editor at t magazine. sometimes pleasureher. not often enough, in my opinion. >> no, you're right not to include that. >> i nee your help. u come stay on esland. aa way of avoiding all those people you might want to avoid right now. you will be invtigating thies, misers, bullies, th most detestable collection of peopleou will ever et-- my

family. this is harriet someone in the family murdered harriet and for the past 40 ars habeen tinto drive insane. those are from her d the rest from her killer. >> ties for prostitution, ties for assault. how many partners have you had in the last month? and how many of those were men? >> i should have control of my money. >> and you will. once you learn to be sociable. why don't we start with me? >> i can't find something you haven't been able to find in 40 years. >> you don't know that. off very keen investigative mind. >> i've never found a body. >> was it spontaneous? was it calculated? did she know something? >> the last time i reported on

something without being absolutely sure i lost my life savings. i need a research assistant. >> i know an excellent one. she did the background check on you. >> the what? >> you don't think we could hire just aone for something like this? >> mikael blomkvist. may i come in? we need to talk. >> hey! hey! who do you think you are? >> put some clothes on, get rid of your girlfriend. can i call you lisbeth? i want you to help me catch a killer of women. i have no idea of how they're connected to the death of a 16-year-old girl. don't you want copies of this sneeze >> i got it. >> am i missing anything? >> the names. and i have them. >> everybody knows why you're here. >> someone killed her.

someone on the island that day. >> if a woman approaches an animal, you shall kill the woman and the beast. >> rose: joining me now is david firmer, the director and the movies stars daniel celg, rooney rch, a christopher pluer, stellan skarsgard and robin wright. i amleased to have all of them athis table toalk about this this movie which is already on the top ten for people w i'm not even sure have seen it. but it is getting enormous attentand we begin with the

director who was here for "social network" and was about to lead off to make this movie. how hard was it for you? tell me the mountain you just climbed. >> the actual process of making the film wasn't that difficult. it would have been nice to have a couple more months. >> rose: (laughs) is thabecause he does 100 takes for every shot? >> no, no. >> i don't know where that came from. >> it's cold inere! >> rose: so that's not true. that's one myth we knocked down. >> it wasn't that difficult. shooting the movie wasn't that difficult but the scrambling to put it together and find... >> rose: obviously obvious question is how is it differe from the book and how is it different from the previous film? >> well, i mean, the book is 500 pages, 600 pages. so we thr away what we thought was t right 350ages to throw

away. and y're ltwith, i think a very different... it's certainly different story from the book. >> rose:friend ending? >> well, the story, the feeling of it... the parts we've chosen to kp are very... make i its own thing and it's very different from the swedish movie. >> that's what i thought, too. and i'm loyal to the first film. >> i hope so. >> rose: feels like them the beginning. when i saw the first five minutes i'm saying "how close is it going to be to the previous?" >> what he does is he's so good at establishing an atmosphere immediately-- in all his films. but this one particularly. >> rose: what do you mean by that? >> well, just presenting a kind of style and spooky atmosphere immediately so that the audience is rivetd from the start-- rather like stieg larsson's book where you're riveted from the start. not great literature but you can't put it dn. >> rose: it's a page turner. in fact you said... (laughs)

once you knew this might be something you might do, you grabbed the book. >>i'd read it. i'd read "the girl with the dragon tattoo," god knows, whenever it came out. and me and a million other people thought well, this would make a great movie. that's the last i thought about it. i hadn't seen the movies and david phoned me up and i want to work with him for a long time so i figured he had a fairly good idea... >> rose: you like e kind of film he is makes like "seven." >> some of them are okay. >> rose: here is the big question here: casting rooney. how was this process to get this person? because it was said to be the most coved role since, what, scarlett o'hara. >> well, i think... i think... i think more's been made out of it in the media than... it didn't seem to me like we were seeing mo actors for that real roell

than we had mark zuckerberg in "social network." but there were more people who were non-actors who wanted the role of lisbeth than... there were no non-actors who wanted to play mark zuckerberg and there were a lot of non-actors who wanted to play listh. re: h long did it take you to win this role? >> i think it was like two and a half months. >> rose: what was he doing to you? (laughs) not quite? come back? we need one more. >> you know, david was kind of championing me pretty early on and it was sort of about convincing everyone else. and there was just screen test after screen test and then after like, four of those or five of those we just started doing different hair and makeup sts and we shot a little bit on the subways in l.a. and stuff like that. >> rose: di he tell you that you'd gotten the part by showing you an ipad message? >> yes. he did. rose: it was a press release. >> it was on his ipad. it's not like he typed it up...

>> rose: he didt call you up and say... (laughter) >> here'shat happened. we... i knew overhe weekend when i was doing press for "social network" i knew for 48 hours that we were going to give rooney the role and it was a situation like this and i didn't want to get her hope up in case something fell through and i didn't want the cat out of the bag so we arranged to meet on a monday morning and i broughter in and said i think you'd not only want this for obvious reasons but i want you to weigh the ways that this can be debt cemental. >> rose: you have to change your life. >> yes, and fo the worse. if you're a serus actor and you're looking at a career of a lot of different choices as a performer this is something that can cast a pretty long show. vivien leigh was an amazing actor and "streetcar named

desire" is an amazing performance but she'll always be scarlett o'hara. and you have to realize... and used other examples. >> i know that problem. >> rose:ou had that problem, didn't you? you'll always be... tell me how you saw character. your character. >> the conversations we had were just very much about... for me was to make him as real as possible. he'sn ideistic journalist. he's had his... he's sort of got into a lot of trouble for not checki his facts and... >> rose: idealistic and aggressive. >> and egotistical. we decided he likes to spend probably a little too much find in front of the camera. >> herr froder was kind enough to share your report with me. the investigator's name, that's the name, i can't find any record of her d i'm pretty good at that kind of thing. >> would it matter?

>> it would if i wanted to speak to her yes. >> okay, here's a name for you. my sister. she's also my lawyer. she'll be contacting you. >> there are things in here that can only have come from one place. >> and the reason you can find no record of her is because her records have been sealed. she's a ward of the state. >> what's that got to do with anything? >> she's had a rgh life. can we please not make it any rougher? >> great thrillers are about people in jeopardy and i just was so keen to make him, you know, kind o ordinary in that sensehat suddenly this awful thing start happening. >> rose: but even more important i think, is the definition... the relationship here. and you keyed off on that didn't you? the relationship?

>> well, that was what was interesting. i've made movies before about how people treat people badly in the basement with power tools so i wasn't auditioning for that part of the movie. but i felt as i read the book and... i felt i hadn't seen... i've seen the... i've seen many different permutations of the team, the partnership. and this seems to be just really touching. it had... it was sort of naughty and intimate and just seemed like not something that you'd seen, certainly, in an america moe. >> re: what's erika's relationship to him? >> avant-garde? i mean... (laughter) rose: she always considers him her man? >> yeah. absolutely. >> rose: ner, ever forgets that

>> i think it's a... hmm. that cbeth syndrome. theyave each other's bac and will always have a kind of intimacy that maybe can't be acquired elsewhere. and ideally that kind of liberal relationship i think we all dream about god you can never have it in one person. why can't it work, having two? it just can't. >> rose: it can't because... in what way? >> society. i'm just saying. >> rose: i understand people who work together or people that are that close as friends... >> yeah, but i think i'm specifying open marriage. relationship within the business commitment that they have to each other. i thin they're friends and there's two kinds of love. and that becomes a love. and the different dynamic.

it's almost tiered and i think that's what david does in the movie so well is tis all of those dynamics and connections and we can see clearly who they are because of that. >> it's something that makes it much more interesting is that we don't have to explain it. >> rose: ey don'teven have to.. >> well,t's... that's the good. maybe it's the book that sells a million copies that you don't feel compelled to have to go "o.k., now, they're no married." >> rose: (laughs) >> but she is going to spend the night. like, if you're making the movie in hollywood and it's not from a book that anybody knows you kind of have to do those... you have to make those overtures to the audience. and it's nice to just be able to get started and take off. >> rose: how did you see lisbeth? because much wa written abouther. >> you know, i think i saw her sort of the way everyone else

saw her. i don't... she's kind of a hard aracter to describe. you kind of just have to discover her. she's unlike anyone you've ever seen or re about before and she's sort of lived by her own moral code and she's very unmpromising in that way. >> rose: but there's so much out there about her, including what i've just said from the book reviewer from the "new york times." did you have to absorb that or did you have to find her yourself? >> no. i mean, between the threeooks and the sipt and my nvsations with david i didn't have to look... i didn't look at anything else outside of that. i mean... >>ose: david and the text. >> yeah. and their own research that i did but i didn't use anyone else's opinion of who she was to create the charact. >> rose: christopher, your character. >> the only nice guy in the movie, actually. (laughter) in a sort of long career of playing a lot of villains, i

jumped at it. i also jumped... i loved the old man,actually. and i loved him in the book and i thought he was generously treated in the film. wonderfully treated. he appeared in the right moments and he cut quite a bit of some wonderful scenes i had. >> rose: why would you do that? >> no, i'm joking, i'm joking! but i said "he's absolutely bloody right, he should have cut it. it works so well." >> rose: you said that to yourself? "those brilliant scenes he should have cut" (laughter) >> yes. yes. no, i loved playing it and i loved working for him particularly. >> rose: so for all of you, is the film that you have seen completed out of the editing room ready to go on the screens around the world the film you saw yourself making? >> that's what i said to david when i first saw it. did you tell him that?

>> i didn't... you know, i watched the movie and i immediately e-mailed david and i said that's the movie we set out to make. and it's rare that you get... incredibly rare where you make a movie that that's how you feel but every kind of beat, every pot, everything was there >> rose: did you feel tha >> i haven't seen the movie. >> rose: w not? what are y waiting? she's scad. >> usual you have more ti from when you finish a movie to when you have to see itnd it all happened really fast. i want to watch it with an audience. i didn't want to watch in the a big dark room myself. >> rose: to see how they respd? >> ihink it's always ttero watch a movie with an audience. >> the thing that was extraordinary about those really violent scenes is that they are done... horrific scenes, they're done with such taste. it's extraordinary how you save it from being just another

vulgar kind of violent film. it's done with such class and taste. don't you agree? >> rose: i do. but tell me how you... does that resonate with you? that that was, in fact, what you wanted to do? >> well, i... look, there's... there are enes in t this moviehat are beyond imagination in terms of what you have to... i mean, and the audience... the audience experienced this movie very differently than the people in it and the people watching it being made. they see it and it's very kind of compressed and reduced and heightened. they're hearing music. so you have to be... as difficult as it was often and we had... there are scenes in the movie where the crew was... literally peop were n watching. they just didn't want to watch. and you have to be careful about how you present that to an audience. although i feel violence and

especially violence toward women has to be presented in a way. somebody said "oh, god that scene is offensive." well, it should be offensive. it's a rape. rape is an offensive idea. i want that to be the takeaway but you can also... you can rub people's noses in it. >> rose: tell me what you mean, christopher, by taste. >> well, exactly what i say. he doesn't go in for the sensationalism of it. he has a taste to show you the horror. there's so many beautiful things that follow. you are distcted from i in the best way because she comes off as a... i'll tell you now so you don't have to see the movie. >> he already watched me shot for shot. i told him to walk me through it shot for shot and he sadly could. >> rooney has this... it scares the hell out of you andhen you see how vulnerable she is. and you... the audience can't

help but root for her. which is extraordinary. >> rose: i want to know how you saw her, though. you seem at the table here a bit surrounded by all of thi but you're carrying in many ways this film. it doesn'take it easier, does it? >> respond. >> rose: what did you want to get? what was your challenge here? >> i never really thought of it as carrying the film. >> rose: i know but i didn't mean it that way. >>certnly iaw t large responsibility to the character so many people have read these books and have their own idea of who this character is and pretty much... >> your idea was? >> my idea of... i don't know how to put it to words i think larsson wrote an incredible character and that was the character we set out to make, you know? we wanted her to be as true to the book as possible. >> it's a collection of... you know, there are so many things that are, like not

dramatizeabl to... it's a very... you don't say to somebody "well, i need you to just avert your eyes." that's just one of the things that you kind of put in the repertoire of different things that you're going to be concentrating on, you know? but i don't think... we never really discussed like... it was sort of just like i need you to be her. here are the things she needs to do. here are the things that have happened to her. >> we wanted r to be very human, you know? there's, like, rm for her t sort of being an action figure d we wanted her to feel ver human and complex and i think that's o of the things that's so incibl about her is that she has these opposing sides andou see one thing and then another thing comes out of her and you expect one thing and she does something else. >> rose: and it's a combination of that and the way she looks as well. >> yeah. >> rose: the range. at the same time you had to go

through certain kinds of adaptations of your physical appearance. >> yes. >> rose: which was part of her persona and you had to capture that, i guess. >> yeah, obviously t way she looks is... >> rose: whohe is. >> very important part to the story and i think it's... we always wanted her look not to be any sort of way to draw attention or to make a statement or to be a part of any sort of group. she presents herself to the world that way as a means of repelling people and as a way to keep people away from her. >> rose: do women like her a lot do you think? the character? >> i mean, it's an alpha dog. snipe yeah. >> more than a male/female. it's annimal. and th human thing... it's so manistic, the way she reveals

herself, you know? the way the veils are liftednd i just walked by a computer when i was coming back from the restroom before we started and the dictionary word of the day was up on somebody's screen and the word of the day is "vary varyist." and i leaned down... i'd never heard of it and it said "most complete, the utmost." and that's the kind of director he is. he's the veryest director. he's so completely depiction of character, book, the text, this is the way it should be portrayed. anthen it's got that human side. so you have the utmost truth. it is the truth. >> rose: stellan, tell me who martin is. >> i can't because then i'll ruin the film. (laughter) up to yesterday i had no clue who he was because i didn't see the fi until yesterday and

it's the in the hands of the director. so i don't want to talk about my character. i think it's more important to talk about your character. >> hey! my character doesn't... >> but the choices you made... i think it'ssuch an iredible thing you do. but it's also the... it's hard to say animal but it's like a animal that is trapped somewhere. but you played in such a way you almost don't look at anybody, you... it's like you cut off even the audience in a way. but still you are just drawn into her. >> and you want to hug her all the time. >> yeah, you do. >> not all the time. (laughter) >>. >>ose: did you immediately after you were cast... did he send you or did you go on your own the swedeen? >> yeah, five daysater >> rose: to do what?

just absorb the place? >> that's where i did all of my training and it was really important for me to spend that time there. i don't think you can really fully understand the character or really the books unless you have some sort of sense of what it's like to live there and what the people are like there. >> rose: this is where the two of you meet. roll tape. >> who is it? >> it's mikael blomkvist. >> actually, i'm not really up ye >>ay i come in, pe? hi. you and i need to talk. i've brought some break... i'm sorry, i didn't realize... >> hey, hey! who do you think you are? >> i'm the guy you know better than my closest friends do. why don't you put some clothes on, get rid of your girlfriend? we need to talk. >> rose: you said "i'm interested in human beings who are complex and complicated."

but you don't want to talk about why martin is that? >> i don't wt it to be a spoiler. he comes from a very dysfunctional family. christopher's the only functioning person in the family. (laughter) >> agreed. >> and he has a very tragic childhood to explain everything. >> rose: you can't do all of that but just give me some... >> well, he's... all right, i'll spoil it. he's pathological serial killer. (laughter) and he's a psychopath. (laughter) very interesting. >> rose: that's on the record, all right? i wanted to get it on the rerd. wel you were squeezing it out of me. (laughter) >> rose: ox, here's another scene. i want to get several in so you can see these characters in their relationships and in actions. roll tape. >> it's just been swept under the rug. >> what? >> harriet. >> we can talk about it later. >> we can talk about it now.

he knows everything about my crazy family. that's why she'll never marry me. >> well, i don't want to read about that in the book. everything else is fine. harriet, certainly. we can change that tonight. not just the family, but the company as well. >> how so? >> we got ericsson but we're still laest family owned company in the country. at our height we hadabout 40,000 employees and about half of that now. that downward slide broke henrik's entrepreneurial entrepreneurial spirit. >> you were here then? >> i came in later after the accident on the bridge. was a terrible day. searching, not finding, even worse.

>> rose: another clip from the film "the girl with the dragon tattoo." >> i apologize if you've been having fincial problems at the magazine during this. >> well, we'll work through them? >> you sure? >> how long do you think you can hang on? six months? >> that's. >> i used to be in the newspaper business. we owned six dailies back in the '50s. >> still own one. >> which i'll let my nephew run because he can't run anything else. >> so what would you say to taking on a partner? >> well, we've never had to consider it before. value our independence very much. >> independence in publishing is dependent on advertisers. you don't care about content >> excuse me, did i miss something. >> we're talking about investing in the magazine. >> but w would you want to... >> i don't read it, that's for sure. >> i feel so badly that i've taken mikael away from you at

the worst possible time. but now i am convinced that this is the right thing to do. thmoral thing that's one reason. and... >> and? >> the enemies of my friends are my enemies. >> rose: what were you saying david as you were... >> a line that i love where he sayou d't ce about content, we want to own your magazine." >> rose: you think there are publishers in the world like that? >> oh, no! >> movie studios. (laughter) >> rose: all right. here's one more. roll tape and then we'll come back to our conversation. here it is. >> someone kill her. someone on the island that day. someone close enough to know what she used to give me each year on my birthday. those e fromher, the rest

fr her killer. >> who knows about sneeze >> just me, the police, the killer. and now you. >> rose: two things, because incredible score. i' go first to that. who d th score why... >> we worked on "social network, i was able to pull them back into the movie business. they had a really go time and enjoyed it and i think they were happy to try it again. we were... it was kind of out of a fluke, you know?

d be trying to get trent to do a film score for ten years, 15ears finally caught him in a weak moment. >> rose: what do you look for in this store? what did you think thi film needed? >> well, we talked about a lot of things. we began with the notion of how do you convey the sound of ice. how do you convey the sound of the cold? how do you... and we decided to do that with bells. we started talking about the "tubular bells" and "the exorcist" and the idea of space and sounds that could be a voice from the past. one of the amazing things about swedens th you can hear... it's very, very quiet when you are out here... when we were out shooting at the le where we were, shooting on the vanger estate. when you get there first thing in the morning, you're trudging through e snow waiting for the

equipment, you can hear the chicken across the waterway from a mile. and that was the thing that we kept trying to... we wanted to convey this world this that had en iced a yet you could hear stuff forever including, you know, harriet's theme, harriet's... the instrumentation that reminds you of harriet this girl who may or may not be buried beneath that snow. >> rose: there's no way you would have shot this film not in sweden. >> it didn't make any sense to me. the idea of a... no. it... you know... >> the architecture is so unique. >> yeah. and this journalist and his 20-something girlfriend/lover/ptner, it didn't seem to wo in partland.

>> rose: tell me how stieg larsson saw the character and if it's him. >> it has to be. that's what you do when you write, you write the best version of yourself. >> rose: you create a character you'd like to be. >> yeah. i think... i don't know. mikael, he loves women. he loves being surrounded by them. there's an honesty about him whh i think is what's so appealing certainly for salander, the guy... the first guy she meets in her life is kind of prepared to say... he comes to her apartment. i loved that scene because it's a great piece of writing, a joy to do. and he comes up and says "look, you broke the lawou hked into my computer, let's mov on from that and come and work with me." and i think it's just a sort of... he knows he's got a

complete honesty about him, a straightforwardness which i enjoy and i presume that's all stg laron. >> rose: what did he see her her? >> i genuinely don'tthink he really thinks that he's... you mean as far as having a relationship? i don't think he's... he's absolutely the last thing on hi mind. >> rose: hs mission driven. >> yeah. i think he's... like any man he's probably thinking about it at some point. >> rose: (laughs) >> but that's... you know, that's just five minutes. it's not his driving force at the beginning. and that... i just love the way they tumble into eac other. well, actlly, she... >> yeah, i... >> she jumps on him. but he's ry vulnerable at the time. vulnerable and inain. >> there's something true about

wennerstrom being a real man and actually driving stieg larsson to his death. >> i don't know. there's all sorts of stuff that if you look up on the internet... >> rose: is that internet stuff. you n't think it's... >> no, i don't think so. people love those kind of theories there's one that he's alive, by the way. (laughter) >> rose: what was itbout these novels, do you think, that grabbed the world'stttion 65 million copies. >> it's unbelievable. but i don't think it's just that they have the normal pulp ingredients of violence and sex. >> rose: >> even if it's more than most novels have. but i think it's very much the relationship between... >> rose: it's character. >> character. >> rose: and that's what you understood.

>> well, it just seemed to me like the backdrop is a ripping yarn. the backdrop is the inveigation, the mystery and all that stuff and in the foreground are these two people that you just haven't seen before. >> rose: you haven't seen before? >> i haven't. i haven't seen two characters like this. i haven't seen... >> rose: ever in fiction or movies or novels. >> that come from such opposite worlds that they are... and that in it's... quite honestly, all the books are about the sexual politics between men and women working together. it's mirrored in his first relaonship that weee when we meet him, it's mirrored in the away relationship and then how it comes back around to mikael. and when we get into the second book it all of a sudden is transposed to all these other different male/female cupings.

>> rose: how much was this shot in order? >> nothing was shot in order. >> well, we shot... >> you shot what? yes and yorick who plays br >> we had a period in sweden where we were walking in and t of doors in three months because we were shooting exteriors there. which was a nice way to start a movie. it gave us a chance to get to know each other and rehearse and then we went to l.a. and shot the meat of the scenes and interiors and by that point we'd sort of... we got used to each other. >> rose: christopher, how does david work? >> well, there are a lot of takes. >> rose: yeah, you said that. >> but each one is fascinatingly different. so you don'tven in the freezi cold-- whichas pretty

cold-- with all the lakes around us, you know, the horrible damp cold, even then you don't complain too much about mr. fincher saying "take ten" because there's always something different and interesting. >> rose: does he need t do it differently each take or does he believe he mit get the best out of you. >> sometimes it's a technical thing he wants changed and sometimes he wants us to do it differently and offers... he never gives a line reading or anything like that. but he lets you be free a insists that you be creative. or he'll give you a line reading. >> no, he never did. >> the wonderf thing about david is that he's not intense about it, even though movie is so intense. he remains... >> he's cool a cool exterior every time. >> and a wonderful sense of humor so he can be ased, too. >> (laughs) >> he doesn't like it. he doesn't like being teased.

(laughter) >> you can speak for him. >> rose: but is its in your mind that you want to have the largest number of options you can possibly have when you t... >> in spite of some people's assertions,. >> rose: that wasn't an assertion, that's a question. >> no i was teasing robin. >> i'm going to cap off. go ahead. >> rose: no, i fee that we build these sets, spend this time, bring this equipment halfway around the world, set all the stuff up and then rush through it and go and turn to people and say "give me the best three versions of that that you can come up with and and we'll kabul it together somehow. it feels to me like if there's... i mean, i don't walk into a scene feeling like i don't know where it's going and i'm looking for it to el lupl nate theirecon.

we reers this balliic nature... this is where it has to head and then what you find with really talented people is that they show you that you haven't seen before and that you then get to say, oh, wow, how can i make that part of... i want that part of the tapestry of the thing. but i also can't have it be two minutes longer, you know? it's not like we're... it's not like we're off the reservation. i want you to play and i want you to play with this text and i want you to look at this idea for more meaning. what will does that character really mean? and in that mall lang of people trying... you know, a number of different ways you're going to find those takes that you go "that's what we're building this scene off of. that's the intent." and then you sort and sift

thugh every over-the-oulder shot and every moment andvery time somebodyddresses a problem, how it is ty pick things up and you're looking for those best little pieces. >> i know i gave you a hard time still do, will forever about the take thing, so many takes. but asn actor i think it's so beneficial. and i didn't know what it was in the begin because i didn't work very many days on the movie. you... camera's rolling, it's different with digital because you have more time, you don't to call cut, the film doesn't roll out. and he kept rattling very close to my ear, rattling adjectives, just distributive things. and at a certain point i go account request k we cut? take a breath for a second?" andened he said "no." and i saidwhy?" and he said "because i don't want you to think."

and i went yes! because you will. you get stuck in your choice again and again and again and you're fighting with yourself and becoming more insecure because the take is not changing and then you just a jus ur fast cystic bubble of an actor by the end of the scene and go "i didn't nail it." so it'svery freeing. >> i don't think anybody walks away saying to themselves "well, he didn't get that." (laughter) >> rose: what did david's direction mean for you in this film in terms of what you wanted to do with this character? >> david's direction more than anything i couldn't have done the movie withoutim. i wouldn'tave waed to have made thi mie inyone else. you know, i had to do so many thgs that were really scary and new and i wouldn't have been able to do it unless i had someone that i trusted

completely and i trusted david completely i would have done anything to him probably to a fault. >> rose: how is this experience different than you imagined going into it? >> i don't know that it was. i don't know that i had any real expectations going into it. >> rose: but it's my iressio at youere ppare too pretty much anything to make sure that you nailed it. >> uh-huh. >> rose:ot it and nailed it. because you were so invested in the character and the movie and the... >> well, i didn't have much choice. there's so much pressure on me that if i didn't do the job that would really be the end of my career, probably. >> rose: thas all. (laughter) >> but i never felt like that would happen. >> rose: we know where he's going after this. don't we? (laughs) >> the bar? >> rose: to the bar, yes. >> i never felt... knowing that

he was in charge i never rely had that fear. i always knew thathe would... wouldn't threat happen. >> that heas worth it. it felt worth it from the beginning. >> rose: what do you mean? >> i mean, we knew. there was a lot of pressure on the outside, a lot of pressure on rooney which was perceived because of taking on the role because of the other movie, because of the books. >> rose: because of what have the character meant. >> we knew. >> we knew that she was the right person for the role. >> i did. i trusted david, you know? i saw rooney's acting and went "oh, this is going to be fine." so all of that sort of... it's e-z easy with hindsight to talk about but we dwelt that a long ti ago. >> rose: did you sense that, too stellan? you're the on swede at the table. >> definitely. i had only seen her in "social network" before we started working but the first time i saw rooney on the set she comes off

the motorcycle and just walks in and when she looked at me i thought, we're home. no problem. (laughter) that's dangerous enough for me. >> rose:o what does that mean? that casting is... >> it was very easy. i could have cast her in one minute, not two and a half months. >> rose: what was wrong wi y there? everybody else saw it right away and it took you two months. >> no, david saw it right away, too. >> did he? >> not right right away... >> rose: you said what you were looking for was what you could do to convince the people putting money on the line? >> well, look, it's a... the reel of material that we had to reference was... look, when you cast somebody to be a n a movie, it's not just because you want to meet them or... actors solve problems for you. when you set up hurtles for them in scenes and do 40 takes it's because it's worth it. they're finding things and giving you stuff andhen we cast social network, we were

looking for somebody in this opening scene who could be extremely verbal. who could be extremely warm. who could be very feminine. who could be very mature beyond her years. we had all of these... sort of this laundry list of things that she needed to be able to do opposite jesse. none of those things applied to sal dander. salander is not any of those things. she's diametrically opposed to all of that. so it's a difficult thing to allow people... you need to be able to say to people "we're goin to go make this movie and here's the person that we want to cast at the core of this thing and that... and here's a piece of thaerl is literally night and day from what it is that they're looking for. but trust us. we're going in the opposite direction." >> rose: i sometimes have directors come in and say "i wouldn't haveade a movie if i couldn't have filmed that actress or that actor. i wouldn't have done it."

something about a particular person, a particular role makes them say "that was it for me." is that true about you in some sense? did you look at all that you have done before and said "this story is mine, man. everything i've done gave me the tos to make this movie"? >> i think that i was about 40 pages into the book and i realized why it had been sent to me. (laughter) >> this guy... his movie "being john malkovich." can we just go into that? what is that vessel? where did it come from? >> rose: but there are themes here thatou... >> mind. >> rose: mind would be the right word. >> but the reason to do it was not that. the reason to do it was not the thriller thing, that was not that interesting to me. what was interesting to me is the people.

the people in that world. >> rose: tell me what interested you about lisbeth the character. >> i thought it was kind of stunning... well, it's everybody but it's the... i mean, i think that she is... she many things to my diffent people, but to me personally she... i was fascinated with the fact that, you know 60-year-old men, 58-year-old women, 17-year-old girls were all finding something about her that was freeing or empowering in some kind of way and it had been kind of sold to me as this misogynist avenger. t what i fel about it was timately tt the wasn't any kind of real feminist tack to it at all.

to me it's very human. it's a story of being oppressed. a story of being marginalid. a story of being made to feel less than... it's a character who's been made to feel less than who she thinks she is. and the movie begins with blomkvist as well. he is... he's thought he had all the answers, he has been taken down a few pegs and he is reassessing himseland these two people. the dance and ultimately the way they fit together as a partnership was very beautiful and made... it's very compelling. and aside from all the inhumanity and the bloodshed and the sharp objects, it was... it seemed to me like that's the thing that holds it together. >> rose: scott rudeen said about you "what are the hallmarks of a david fincher film? outsiders, alienation, isolation

marginalization, these are his themes. these are the subjects he owns and there's no better living filmmaker." i know you can't comment on that because it's... but it seems... i think it's reasonably accurate don't you think? >> absolutely. >> you all have got to go. let me make one last point here. about... did you... do you feel like... that he's a little bit dialed down at all from the less something than we might have pr v presumed about him at all? blomkvist? >> in what sense? >> in the sense of... there is a sense that she's more aggressive and that you maybe less... >> she he's very just happy in himself. he's got n.. tre's no... he's a man. he knows he's... he's not going aroundeating his chest trying to force his... unless he's fighting for something, like he's fighting for something he believes in.

i justedly that's just areat dynamic. people have sort of said you're playing this role and the relationship is so interesting he's a guy that when he gets shot at he runs away and thank god she's there. (laughter) >> rose: she is his avenging angel. >> and he's completely happy for her to take on that role. >> rose: thank you. great to have you. thank you, david. thank you. >> thank you. >> rose: thank you, robin. captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org