Stieg Larsson and his partner Eva Gabrielsson in 1990. Photograph: PA/Scanpix
Stieg Larsson's partner Eva Gabrielsson plans to finish the fourth novel he left uncompleted on his death. According to early details culled from Gabrielsson's memoir of her life with Larsson, Millennium, Stieg and Me, which is set for publication in France and Scandinavia next week, Larsson had written 200 pages of a fourth novel in his internationally successful Millennium series before he died. Gabrielsson wants to complete it because, she says, "Stieg and I often wrote together".
Larsson's partner has refused to reveal details of the partially completed novel's plot, but promised that its charismatic but damaged protagonist Lisbeth Salander "little by little frees herself from her ghosts and her enemies". And, she said, she will only finish the book when she gets undisputed rights to Larsson's work from his family, who inherited the author's assets when he died intestate.
Swedish journalist Larsson died in 2004, aged 50, before any of his three completed Millennium titles – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest – were published. The crime novels featuring crusading journalist Blomkvist and punk hacker Salander have gone on to become a publishing phenomenon, with approaching 50m copies sold worldwide. But Gabrielsson is involved in an extended dispute with the author's father and brother over the proceeds from the books because the couple remained unmarried, despite being together for more than 30 years, leaving her with no rights to his assets under Swedish law. Reports of an uncompleted fourth novel, left on Larsson's computer and in Gabrielsson's hands, have been circulating for several months.
Millennium, Stieg and Me chronicles how the couple met and their struggles together at Expo, the anti-fascist publication Larsson founded in 1995. Larsson and his staff "moved around constantly to escape the Nazis who were harassing them", Gabrielsson writes.
And in a criticism of the Larsson family's handling of the estate, she sounds off about the Millennium "industry and brand", saying: "I don't want to see coffee mugs and other 'Millennium' merchandise (Well if the American Remake is successful then that’s exactly what's going to occur); I want to see the 'real' Stieg respected." She has previously complained about the parasitic industry that has grown up around Larsson, describing the "mythology" as unbearable.
Given Gabrielsson's concerns over how Larsson's legacy is handled, she is unlikely to be impressed with news emerging of the forthcoming Hollywood version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, set to star Daniel Craig as Blomkvist and Rooney Mara as Salander. The latest issue of W Magazine reports that the new film departs "rather dramatically" from the book, including alterations to its two main protagonists (Blomkvist less promiscuous; Salander even more aggressive) and a "completely changed" ending, which the magazine does not reveal but votes "more interesting" than the original. The new film, which has already attracted controversy for recasting the role of Salander, taken in the Swedish film version by Noomi Rapace, with an American actress, is expected to be released late this year.
No matter where you went – on a train, plane, or just sitting in the park – that bright green and yellow book cover seemed to be everywhere. The original movies were a smash hit overseas and by now we all know that Golden Globe-winning director David Fincher is hard at work on the American remake where Lisbeth Salander, who teams up with journalist Mikael Blomkvist to solve a long gestating disappearance.
Well the detractors (of which I am one) have decried the remake. IMHO remakes shouldn’t be made on movies that were released less than 5 years ago, especially when it’s an American remake because there will always be indictments of how Hollywood ALWAYS ruins great movies. and truth be told it DOES.
Now many Americans are tired of being told that America sucks in movie remakes. Well then maybe Hollywood should stop remaking great foreign ,movies. It’s pretty simple. Don’t want to receive criticism then don’t do the offensive action. It’s also the epitome of American Jingoism to believe that the remake of TGWTDT will be better merely because it was remade by an American. See folks this is distantly related to the previous post and although this article is not about race, it does highlight how certain entities in Hollywood feel they have eminent domain over everything that was created by someone else.
I thank the Goddess that Steig Larrsonj created the Millenium Trilogy years ago or else Dorothy Snocker would accuse him of writing entirely too many books.
But I digress, I am not into glitz and flash. Seeing Lisbeth Salander on a new motorcycle is not as important to me as seeing Lisbeth Salander as more feminized is disturbing. I mean
a mini tutu really?In my post: Get Ready To Be Disappointed Big Time I wrote that the American remake will be created in such a way as to make the male character more relevant in a sexual context than he was in the original as in Lisbeth actively pursuing him?
You KNOW That It's Going to be something to pander to white males 17 to 35, especially the nerdy ones.
Does the revelation by Eva Gabrielsson to complete a 4th Millenium novel mean that we have to be assaulted by American remakes for 3 more movies? You DO know that the American remake of TGWTDT is just the beginning.
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