From Queen of England to princess of the dark web; posh dinners with the aristocracy and ruling classes, with a set of three silver spoons, to hacking NSA servers and confronting Russian cybercriminals: the English actress Claire Foy has been very busy lately. Best-known for her role as the young Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of BBC series The Crown, she now takes on the coveted role of Lisbeth Salander, the heroine of the Millennium crime fiction saga, in the new film The Girl in the Spider’s Web.
STRONG FEMALE
Petite but ruthless, quiet but resentful, bisexual and covered in tattoos, Salander is one of the most powerful characters that has emerged out of Nordic noir, a literary and film genre that has conquered the world. The film is based on the fourth book in the Swedish series – the first three were written by Stieg Larsson; David Lagercrantz continued the series with two more books after Larsson’s death. As Claire Foy explains, the film promises to reveal unknown facts about its fascinating female protagonist.
Claire Foy (English accent): I think with the previous three books she’s been through a lot and she’s also shaken off a lot of her past in a way. I think at the beginning of the stories you’ll find somebody who’s looking for what their purpose in life is really. The sort of days have gone where you can have a two-dimensional figure at the centre of any story and I also think that Lisbeth is a really complex and interesting woman, as all women are.
NIETZSCHE IN STOCKHOLM
The original Swedish title of the book is a famous quote from Nietzsche: “That which does not kill you (makes you stronger)”, which certainly conveys Salander’s tenacious and antagonistic spirit. But as much as the film remains loyal to the book, it also explores other aspects of the character, Foy says.
Claire Foy: There has to be room for her evolving and changing, otherwise it won’t live on and I think that’s the beauty of it, that it’s going to live on. And so, there is a huge amount of respect and understanding with honouring the books and honouring the original characters but also wanting her to change in order for her to keep going.
THE THIRD LISBETH
The English actress is the third to play the role of Lisbeth Salander on screen, after Noomi Rapace, who starred in the original Swedish film trilogy, and Rooney Mara. For Foy, the strength of the character lies not only in her search for justice driven by personal vendetta, but also on the fact that it embodies many of the issues that concern modern democratic societies; from the increasing power of corporations and the role of the state, to the struggles to define one’s identity.
Claire Foy: I think Lisbeth represents something different to every single person who reads about her or watches her. But for me, I think she’s someone who doesn’t operate in the way that we all believe that we should do and she has no respect for authority because she’s been failed at every single point of her life by people who’re supposed to have taken care of her. And she is someone who is moved to do things and she doesn’t know why but she knows she has to do something about it. Her instinct is so strong, and I just think she is just badass!
CHARACTER STUDY
Uruguayan director Fede Alvarez agrees that beyond the thrilling intrigues and the fast-paced action, it is the complexity of Salander’s personality that fascinates audiences.
Fede Alvarez (Uruguayan accent): It’s a story that really takes the character Lisbeth Salander in a completely different direction and it will expose a part of her life and the [her] world [in a way] that we haven’t seen in any other stories. For me, the intriguing thing in those series in general is who is she. It’s like a question that even people that know her perfectly wouldn’t be able to answer because that’s what makes her special: who is Lisbeth Salander for real?
SCANDINAVIAN DARK PLACES
For Alvarez, the success of Nordic noir novels can be explained by the fact that the genre cuts through the civility and coolness of seemingly exemplary Scandinavian societies, to explore its dark side.
Fede Alvarez: It’s something very particular about the Nordic noir. It’s about a combination of the idea of cold outside and very hot inside, the contrasts of the worlds. And some of the story definitely has the desolation of certain landscapes; of the snow combined with the intimacy of the interior world of the characters. At its core, I think this story is a thriller because it pushes the character completely out of her comfort zone and sends her into a spinning world until the very end. It is really a rollercoaster movie, you know, because once it goes, it really doesn’t stop until the end. Not just her but all the characters, they’re forced to confront their deepest fears.
DEATH IN THE SNOW
Trained in the horror genre, with hit films such as Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe, Alvarez brings his personal style to the aesthetic of the Millennium films. As he explains, he likes to shoot in outdoor locations and not use computer-generated imagery.
Fede Alvarez: My approach to films ... I always try to make it as real as I can and avoid using any visual effects that I don’t need. So where a lot of other movies would have done green screens or would have been in [on] some set, we’re really out in the wild, freezing to death. If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll get a special kick out of it, but if you’ve never read any of the books or saw [seen] any of the movies, this is a great entry point.