As fantastic as it was, David Fincher’s jet-black adaptation of the Stieg Larsson bestseller The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which earned star Rooney Mara an Oscar nomination for her role as hacker Lisbeth Salander, doesn’t appear to be getting a sequel anytime soon. Andrew Kevin Walker is still writing the script (so far as we know) and Fincher has reportedly killed talks that he’ll direct, which might mean that we’ll all be better off if The Girl Who Played With Fire never ends up hitting theaters anyway.
However, just because that series hasn’t panned out, that doesn’t mean Fincher and Mara are done working together. The director and actress are reportedly circling Red Sparrow, a spy thriller that’s being adapted by American Hustle screenwriter Eric Singer from a book by Jason Matthews.
Adding credibility to this news is the fact that 20th Century Fox (also behind Fincher’s upcoming Gone Girl) and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo scribe Steve Zaillan (whose production company Film Rites has boarded Red Sparrow) are involved with the project. Fincher and Mara’s last collaboration was absolutely stunning, so we’re certainly hoping that Red Sparrow comes together.
Of course, it’s still early days for the film, seeing as Singer reportedly hasn’t yet penned the script, so Fincher and Mara might have trouble keeping their schedules open at the same time for Red Sparrow to work out. But taking a look at the Amazon synopsis, this thriller might be too tantalizing a project for either to pass up. Here’s hoping.
In present-day Russia, ruled by blue-eyed, unblinking President Vladimir Putin, Russian intelligence officer Dominika Egorova struggles to survive in the post-Soviet intelligence jungle. Ordered against her will to become a “Sparrow,” a trained seductress, Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a young CIA officer who handles the Agency’s most important Russian mole.
As the action careens between Russia, Finland, Greece, Italy, and the United States, Dominika and Nate soon collide in a duel of wills, tradecraft, and—inevitably—forbidden passion that threatens not just their lives but those of others as well. As secret allegiances are made and broken, Dominika and Nate’s game reaches a deadly crossroads. Soon one of them begins a dangerous double existence in a life-and-death operation that consumes intelligence agencies from Moscow to Washington, DC.
Page by page, veteran CIA officer Jason Matthews’s Red Sparrow delights, terrifies and fascinates, all while delivering an unforgettable cast, from a sadistic Spetsnaz “mechanic” who carries out Putin’s murderous schemes to the weary CIA Station Chief who resists Washington “cake-eaters”. Packed with insider detail, this novel brims with Matthews’s life experience of espionage, counterintelligence, spy recruitment, and cyber-warfare. Brilliantly composed, Red Sparrow is a masterful spy tale. Authentic, tense, and entertaining, this novel introduces Jason Matthews as a major new American talent.