While it doesn’t hold the same place in film history as “The Social Network,” which is thought to be one of the best films of the past 20 years, there are still folks who praise David Fincher’s work on “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” However, it would be silly to suggest that the film was a runaway success, as it is seen by many as a misfire in the incredible career of Fincher. And according to the filmmaker, he’s still very proud of the work but can understand why people don’t see it as a win.
Speaking at the recent Tribeca Film Festival, where he was featured in a discussion with Steven Soderbergh (see video below), David Fincher was asked about his thoughts regarding “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” more than a decade after it was released. For those unaware, ‘Dragon Tattoo’ is based on the best-selling Swedish crime thriller novel by Steig Larsson. There was the hope the film would be a massive hit because it would then continue the English-language adaptations of the trilogy novel series. Unfortunately, when everything was all said and done, the film didn’t kickstart a new franchise, as the box office wasn’t great.
But when you hear Fincher talk about the project, it’s clear that the filmmaker believes that he did everything he wanted to with the film, and he suspected that, if he made it his way, it likely wouldn’t be a huge hit at the box office.
“It would be interesting to see, if you took this piece of material that has millions and millions of people excited, and you did it within an inch of its life, would it support the kind of money it would take to do?” said Fincher about his mission with ‘Dragon Tattoo.’ “We pledged early on that we wanted to make a movie that was not embarrassing to its Swedish heritage.”
He then explains that one of the things they were adamant about is the fact that they wouldn’t shoot it in Atlanta and fake like it’s Sweden. “Atlanta for Sweden? No,” he said. “We didn’t want to transpose it. We wanted it to be true to its essence.”
“I was proud of it. I thought we did what we set out to do,” Fincher added. “We did it the way that we could. And when people said it cost too much for what the return on investment was—Okay, a swing and a miss.”
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Now, it would be disingenuous to call “The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo” a massive bomb. The film was made for a budget reportedly around $90 million. It would then go on to earn $230 million around the world, including over $102 million in North America. Considering this is a hard-R crime thriller about a very touchy subject, it’s almost a miracle that the film made that much money, to begin with.
Ultimately, however, the film is seen as a financial disappointment, as it didn’t make enough money to warrant a sequel. That said, it’s a damn fine crime thriller, especially if you’re a fan of David Fincher’s work.