Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

EXT. SWEDEN - DAY

1

A Christmas card vista is spoiled by a black line of

railroad tracks stitched onto the snowy landscape like a

scar pointing north to icy desolation. A phone rings

EXT. CABIN - ESTABLISHING

A2

INT. CABIN - LAKE SILJAN - DAY

2

An elderly man who lives alone in this rustic cabin -

a retired policeman - regards the phone, both expecting

and dreading the call. He picks up the receiver.

MORELL:

What kind is it?

VANGER O/S

I don’t know. White.

MORELL:

And the frame?

VANGER O/S

Dark.

MORELL:

Postmark?

VANGER O/S

Same as last time.

MORELL:

No note.

VANGER O/S

No.

INT. VANGER’S STUDY - SAME TIME

3

Henrik Vanger - at 82, even older than Morell - listens

to the silence from his end of the line in a wood-paneled

room as baronial as the policeman’s was spartan.

VANGER:

I can’t take it anymore.

MORELL O/S

I know. I’m sorry, Henrik.

There’s nothing more to say. Vanger sets the receiver

down and regards a dried white flower in a 6” x 11” frame

resting on the brown paper it was wrapped and mailed in.

It’s somehow ominous, like the dark storm clouds that now

burst outside

Dragon Tattoo Final 9/1/11 SZ 2.2.

INT. COURTHOUSE - STOCKHOLM - DAY

4

Mikael Blomkvist - 40’s - regards the gauntlet of

reporters he’ll have to pass to get out of the building.

As he strides toward them, microphones and cameras swing

in his direction. Without stopping

BLOMKVIST:

What is this, the media event of the

year?

REPORTER 1

Don’t try to play it down, Mikael, it

won’t work.

BLOMKVIST:

Don’t try to play it up, that won’t

either.

EXT. COURTHOUSE - STOCKHOLM - DAY - CONTINUOUS

4A

Feeling a bit like he’s fleeing the scene of a crime,

which in a way he is, Blomkvist steps outside opening his

umbrella. A couple of the reporters come out after him

REPORTER 2

Will you appeal?

BLOMKVIST:

I’ll appeal to you, Viggo: Find a

real story to cover.

He hurries off in the rain.

NEWSCASTER V/O

Financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist

was found guilty today on 16 counts

of aggravated libel against financier

Hans-Erik Wennerstrom.

INT. CAFE - STOCKHOLM - DAY

5

At a table with a pre-made sandwich and cup of coffee,

and a long court judgement, Blomkvist watches himself

fleeing the reporters on the cafe’s TV. He’s the only

one there who watches it - no one else is interested -

which only makes it worse.

Dragon Tattoo Final 9/1/11 SZ 3.3.

TV NEWSCASTER:

In an article published earlier

this year, Blomkvist claimed

Wennerstrom - founder and president

of The Wennerstrom Group - used State

funds intended for industrial

development in Poland for an arms

deal with the right-wing Ustashe in

Croatia.

The report cuts to a shot of Wennerstrom outside the

courthouse in an Armani suit, surrounded by his legal

team, confidently addressing the reporters

WENNERSTROM ON TV

I have nothing against Mr.

Blomkvist. He’s a good journalist

who I don’t believe is guided by

malice. But what he wrote was

inaccurate, and inaccuracies can’t go

unanswered. He - all journalists -

have to accept like the rest of us,

actions have consequences.

Done with his sandwich, Blomkvist goes to the counter.

BLOMKVIST:

Marlboro Red ... and a lighter.

EXT. CAFE - MOMENTS LATER - DAY

6

He comes out tamping the pack. Extracts a cigarette.

Tosses the pack in a sidewalk trash bin. Flicks at the

lighter but can’t get it to fire in the wind and rain.

Hunches his body around it, coaxes it to life.

TV NEWSCASTER V/O

Blomkvist was ordered to pay 600

thousand SKE in damages and all court

costs, which could be significantly

more.

He takes a long drag that dizzies him. A wonderful

feeling. He regards the trash bin. Fishes around it,

finds the pack, puts it in his coat pocket.

EXT. MILLENNIUM OFFICES, STOCKHOLM - DAY - ESTABLISHING

7

INT. MILLENNIUM’S OFFICES - DAY

8

He comes through past Christmas decorations and a mostly-

young staff. They try not to regard him as a dead-man-

walking, but aren’t entirely successful. He enters the

editor’s office.

Dragon Tattoo Final 9/1/11 SZ 4.4.

ERIKA:

Where you been?

Erika Berger is about Blomkvist’s age, and - like the

IKEA furniture - sends a mixed message: a feminist in a

mini-skirt.

BLOMKVIST:

Walking. Thinking.

ERIKA:

Smoking?

BLOMKVIST:

Just one.

He sits, exhausted and depressed, in a cheap Poang chair.

ERIKA:

TV4 called. I told them no

statement until we’ve read the

judgment in its entirety.

BLOMKVIST:

I have. Who else?

ERIKA:

Everyone who’s ever wanted to see

you humiliated.

BLOMKVIST:

You’ve been on the phone all day

then.

ERIKA:

I’m as much to blame for this as you.

BLOMKVIST:

You are? You wrote it?

ERIKA:

I read it. I ran it.

BLOMKVIST:

Not the same.

ERIKA:

Our credibility isn’t dead, Mikael.

BLOMKVIST:

Mine is.

They regard each other in another silence. Then

Dragon Tattoo Final 9/1/11 SZ 5.5.

BLOMKVIST:

I’m tired. I feel like climbing

under a duvet and sleeping for a

week.

ERIKA:

Alone?

He thinks about it ... shakes his head ‘no.’

ERIKA:

I already called Greger and told him

I wouldn’t be home tonight.

EXT. STOCKHOLM - SAME TIME - DAY

9

A motorcycle dives down a driveway that burrows under a

three-story building.

INT. ARMANSKY’S OFFICE - MILTON SECURITY - DAY

10

Dragan Armansky, 40’s, who looks more like a boss of a

New Jersey crime family than CEO of a high-tech security

firm, sits behind his desk, waiting with an older client.

ARMANSKY:

It’s possible we could wait forever.

FRODE:

You called her, I thought. You spoke

to her.

ARMANSKY:

I’m afraid that doesn’t mean much.

FRODE:

I don’t understand.

ARMANSKY:

No one here likes her. So it’s

better if she works at home.

FRODE:

But you told her I wanted to meet

her.

ARMANSKY:

But I’ve told her many more times I

prefer her not to meet clients.

INT. MILTON SECURITY - SAME TIME - DAY

11

The figure from the motorcycle crosses the lobby. From

behind we can’t see him/her well, but can see wary looks

from others emerging from and getting into the elevator.

Dragon Tattoo Final 9/1/11 SZ 6.6.

FRODE V/O

But you like her.

ARMANSKY V/O

Very much. She’s one of the best

investigators I have. As you saw

from her report

INT. ARMANSKY’S OFFICE - SAME TIME - CONTINUED

12

The report on Armansky’s desk is 200 pages long.

INSERT:
Printed on its cover: Mikael Blomkvist, a case

number and, smaller, its author, Lisbeth Salander.

FRODE:

But.

ARMANSKY:

I’m concerned you won’t like her.

She’s different.

FRODE:

In what way.

ARMANSKY:

In every way.

INT. MILTON SECURITY - STOCKHOLM - SAME TIME - DAY

13

The black-clad figure - from behind again - strides past

coworkers who look away.

INT. ARMANSKY’S OFFICE - SAME TIME - CONTINUED

14

SECRETARY/INTERCOM

Ms. Salander’s here.

Armansky breathes a defeated sigh, taps the intercom

button twice to say ‘okay, let her in.’

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