What are the latest figures for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?The film has now passed 1.8 million across Scandinavia. It's the biggest film ever for any Scandinavian film in the region. Normally, we can't cross borders with our films. So this is an absolute exception thanks to Stieg Larsson's books. We were also careful at Yellow Bird to provide the same quality for the film version, and we're happy that the audience responded so positively. People felt they read the book once more when seeing the film!
You also hit the jackpot thanks to the casting of Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander...
We knew that if we would fail with the casting of Lisbeth Salander, we would fail with the whole adventure as she is an extremely important character in the Millennium trilogy. So our first focus was on her and Noomi Rapace is brilliant in the role.
You must be relieved now that SVT has agreed to let the two other Millennium books become feature films...
We had always hoped that this might happen and had planned from the beginning to give the two other films a true cinematographic feel. Daniel Alfredson is an established and award-winning filmmaker and the cinematographer on both films Peter Mokrosinski has worked with him several times in the past. Although The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest are in the editing room, we organised a small screening for distributors and cinema owners and they all said that there is a true theatrical quality to the films. We are working hard on the editing, plus sound design and music, to make sure the film version of the second book will be ready for a September release in Sweden and the third book adaptation for November 2009.
Will you organise the same pan-Scandinavian release for the other two films?
We have to rush for the Swedish theatrical release as SVT plans to start broadcasting the Millennium series on February 2010. In Denmark and Norway, we have a longer holdback period with broadcasters DR and TV2 Norway. We might coordinate a simultaneous release for those territories, but it's still too early to say.
How long will the two other films be and will the TV versions have a lot of original material as well?
The television series will have two hours more original material with great plot lines, which is partly why SVT accepted to renegotiate the deal with us, but we will still keep very loyal to the books.
Have you closed a deal with the US for a remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?
There is high interest from US companies, but no deal is closed yet. We will not make a remake of the first film. It will be a totally new film in the English language, with a new director who will have his own vision. Stieg Larsson's material is so rich.
The catch line for Yellow Bird is ‘We turn best-sellers into blockbusters'. What other crime novels do you intend to adapt?
We have close relationships with the biggest crime novelists in Scandinavia, such as Henning Mankell and Helene Tursten in Sweden, and Anne Holt from Norway. But we also try to find new talents that are coming up. There are so many different genres and styles within crime novels. But we need the novelists to build a profile in Europe before making any film or TV version. We are now working on a new adaptation of Anne Holt's Vik-Stubø series, and are glad that Helene Tursten is getting more popular outside Scandinavia.