Last week, news broke that Sony was planning a Girl With the Dragon Tattoo follow-up without stars Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara or director David Fincher based on The Girl in the Spider’s Web, the first book in the series not written by creator Stieg Larsson. And, in one report, the Wrap wrote that Alicia Vikander was up to replace Mara in the lead role. But it seems that Mara, who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance as Lisbeth Salander, hasn’t heard the news of her recasting.
“As far as I know, I’m doing it until someone says that I’m not,†Mara said in an interview with E!. “And then I still might do it!â€
This statement somewhat contradicts what Mara told E! earlier this year when she said that a sequel wasn’t in the cards, though it’s not clear what sort of backstage maneuvering brought Sony and Mara to this point. As far as other reports have shown, the primary barrier to green-lighting a sequel has been money. The R-rated original made $233 million off a $90 million budget — big, but not as big as Sony wanted — and cutting a few big names from the call sheet seemed like a good way to cut costs (so good-bye, Mara, Fincher, and Mr. Bond). But perhaps, since then, Mara has conceded to a few of Sony’s terms on a contract, or she’s using all of our speculation as a bargaining chip.Â
Or maybe Mara will star in addition to Vikander and the movie will be called Girl With the Dragon Tattoo 2: Girl With the Dragon Tat2: 2 Girls 2 Dragon Tattoos.