Will Daniel Craig be David Fincher’s lead in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?

Just a few days ago, we reported that director David Fincher would be tackling the American remake of the quite excellent Swedish film THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, itself an adaptation of journalist Stieg Larsson’s novel of the same name (the first in his Millennium trilogy). And now, TheWrap is saying that Daniel Craig is ever so close to signing on the dotted line to play lead character Mikael Blomkvist, a role that was reportedly being sought after initially by Brad Pitt.

From Amazon.com: “Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.”

That “pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander” is not currently cast either, but actresses Carey Mulligan, Natalie Portman, and Keira Knightley have apparently expressed interest in the role (Mulligan’s listed as “rumored” on IMDb, which doesn’t really mean anything… I’m just pointing that out). The movie is expected to begin shooting this October, so I would expect to hear casting news as the summer chugs along.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO will be the follow-up to Fincher’s Facebook movie THE SOCIAL NETWORK, which is due out on October 15th. He will also be directing the next two films in Larsson’s Millennium series for Sony, though a timetable for how this trilogy will be released has not been specified.