Noomi Rapace, star of original 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' film, may be Oscar contender

08/19/2010 by Corinne Heller

Noomi Rapace, a 30-year-old Swedish actress who plays mysterious computer hacker Lisbeth Salander in the 2009 film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo may be a contender for an Oscar at the 2011 Academy Awards.

Rapace has been receiving so much buzz for her role, which sees her resembling a punk rocker with heavy eye makeup and multiple piercings, that Hollywood studios have already begun to court her for parts in upcoming blockbusters Sherlock Holmes 2 with Robert Downey Jr. and Mission Impossible 4 with Tom Cruise, Deadline.com says.

Rapace, a married mother of a 6-year-old boy, is being compared to Marion Cotillard, a French actress who was relatively unknown in Hollywood until she won an Oscar in 2008 for her portrayal of singer Édith Piaf in the film La Vie en Rose.

Cortillard, who had prior to the award acted in mostly French films, starred in the recent hit movie Inception with Leonardo Dicaprio and also has main roles in the upcoming movies Midnight in Paris, which is directed by Woody Allen and Contagion, which stars Matt Damon. She also had a part in the 2009 movie Nine, which featured Daniel Day-Lewis and Penelope Cruz.

The nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards are set to be announced on Jan. 25, 2011 at 8:30 a.m. ET and the Academy Awards ceremony will be held on Feb. 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

Meanwhile, a remake of the film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is being produced and will star Rooney Mara in Rapace's role and Daniel Craig as journalist Mikael Blomkvist.

In the film, which is based on the first book in a crime novel trilogy written by Stieg Larsson, Salander helps Blomkvist tackle a freelance assignment by an elderly businessman who wants to find out what happened to his grand-niece.

The casting of Craig, star of James Bond movies Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, was announced in late July and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is scheduled to begin production in September and is set for release on Dec. 21, 2011. The film's director is David Fincher, who also directs The Social Network, which opens on October 1.