Five young ladies vie for the hacker role of Salander in David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Just a couple of days ago, we reported on the newly announced release date for David Fincher’s upcoming remake of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, the first story based on the novels – the “Millenium Trilogy” – by Stieg Larsson. In that report, there was some hearsay on the part of Deadline’s Mike Fleming that a handful of relative unknowns were supposedly in the mix for the key role of tough and complex computer hacker Lisbeth Salander.

Today, Anne Thompson of indieWIRE is confirming that report, saying that Sony, producer Scott Rudin, and director David Fincher are currently screen-testing their final five: Emily Browning (SUCKER PUNCH, SLEEPING BEAUTY), Sophie Lowe (BLAME, ROAD KILL), Sarah Snook (SISTERS OF WAR, “All Saints”), Rooney “younger sister of Kate” Mara (THE SOCIAL NETWORK, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET), and an unidentified French actress. Deadline was right in their initial report; They seem to be going the SPIDER-MAN route with their casting of the Salander role. How do you guys feel about these choices?

Thompson also adds, in regards to the role of journalist Mikael Blomkvist: “Daniel Craig, who is the studio’s first choice to play muckraking journalist Mikael Blomkvist, could fall out if the studio can’t live with his availability issues. Both Craig’s still-delayed James Bond sequel and Cowboys & Aliens can demand his services whenever they want him. And he needs to be ready and able if The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo does well enough to spur two swift back-to-back shooting of The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.”

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO opens December 21, 2011.