Daniel Craig to star in the remake of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'?

The Wrap sure seems to think so:

One of the biggest roles in Hollywood is about to be taken off the table.

Daniel Craig is nearing a deal to take the lead role in a U.S. adaptation of the Swedish blockbuster trilogy, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," TheWrap has learned.

David Fincher will direct the crime thriller, based on a trilogy by the late Swedish novelist and journalist Stieg Larsson.

Actresses including Oscar-nominated Carey Mulligan have expressed interest in playing Lisbeth Salander, a computer hacker recruited by a journalist to find a woman who has been missing for 40 years. That part has not yet been cast, and other actresses including Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman have also expressed interest.

Craig would play journalist Mikael Blomkvist who is looking for the missing woman, Harriet Banger.

A Sony spokesman said, "We have not offered any roles to anyone nor are we negotiating with anyone."

While Brad Pitt has been reportedly considering the lead role, an individual close to the negotiations said that Craig was close to a deal. The James Bond star will fly out to Los Angeles on Friday to have dinner with Fincher, who's slated to direct the three-picture franchise for Sony.

The movie will shoot in October, and is slated for release in December 2011.

Larsson's "Millennium Trilogy," which includes "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo," "The Girl Who Played With Fire," and "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest," has sold over 25 million copies around the world.

A Danish film adaptation of "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" was released last year and has been playing internationally.

Negotiations between Craig and Sony aren't entirely finished, but TheWrap was told he's extremely close to signing. Brad Pitt was also reportedly considering the role.

Craig begins shooting on Jon Favreau's "Cowboys & Aliens" next week. "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" would be his next movie.

-He certainly works for me...thoughts?

Here's another image from 'Let Me In'...

...giving us our first look at both characters together. Thoughts?

Here's a first look at Chloe Moretz in the remake of 'Let the Right One In'...

...now just called 'Let Me In'. Thoughts?

David Fincher's remake of 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' still has no lead?

Apparently so, contridicting early reports that had Carey Mulligan winning the role from Kristen Stewart. Here's the story from Deadline:

Every hot young actress in Hollywood wants to play the lead in Sony Pictures' The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. But will David Fincher cast one of them -- or go with an unknown? This is the studio's next 3-film franchise based on Swedish author Stieg Larsson's bestselling Millennium trilogy. It begins with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (there's a very well-received Swedish version in theaters right now), and continues with The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. So what's described to me as "creme de la creme" of young actresses are calling Sony execs as well as producer Scott Rudin and asking if they "can come in for a meeting" about it.

Carey Mulligan, the Oscar nominee from The Education, actually phoned the pic's writer Steve Zallian and took him to lunch. (Reminds me of that bad joke about the ambitious actress and the writer.) Juno Oscar nominee Ellen Page wrote a heartfelt note to Rudin. (Her Hard Candy persona is perfect for the part.) Sony execs insist they're "nowhere near casting". But Mulligan, Page, Kristen Stewart, Mia Wasikowska, Natalie Portman, Keira Knightley, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Thirlby, and Scarlett Johannsen are all circling.

The problem is that director David Fincher "is not sure if he wants to go with an actress of any note or go with an unknown," an insider tells me. "David's process is very specific and private. He's looking for authenticity and a degree of fierceness and believeability capable of delivering the intensity that the part on the page calls for." I hear Sony execs think the bestseller itself is such a phenom, and the material so exciting, that the twentysomething female lead doesn't need a name. On the other hand, they think the male lead does require a star, and the studio is waiting for an answer from Brad Pitt.

-I think all the actresses are excellent and could do a great job, but I don't know that I have a favorite...do you? Thoughts?

Carey Mulligan to star in David Fincher's remake of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'?

Well, according to Cinematical, she's won the role (which was supposedly down to her or Kristen Stewart). Here's the story:

Forget the sweet schoolgirl who gossips with her girlfriends and dreams of great romance in gay "Par-ee." Recent Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan is heading for the body art. The Times Online reports that the An Education star is "set" to headline the English remake of the Swedish film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. (They say she won a thumbs up from director David Fincher, but the final decision/agreement has not been made.)

Mulligan has been itching to grab the role for a while now, saying last month: "I am obsessed with those books. I would love to do them. I am not going to lie about that. I would love to play Lisbeth Salander." The Times notes that she not only won the thumbs up from Fincher, but also the family of the late author who penned the series, Stieg Larsson. Should she sign on the dotted line, she's said to earn approximately £10m for three films, playing a body-modded computer hacker who helps a journalist solve a decades-old disappearance. (The locale might be moved to Canada, seen as a sort of "compromise" for American audiences.) *

While I was intrigued by Peter's idea of a rougher Veronica Mars on the big screen, I'm itching to see how Mulligan balances darker fare with the sweet. If she hits this out of the ballpark like she did An Education, I imagine she'll be unstoppable.

-I think either Mulligan or Stewart would have worked, but I'm a fan of them both...thoughts