Noomi Rapace told Cinematical that she is playing a gypsy in ‘Sherlock Holmes 2,’ her first Hollywood film. “My character is a gypsy,” Rapace said in an interview Monday in Los Angeles, Calif. “She is a traveler and she’s cool – she’s a bit crazy, but I like her. I’m having a great time. Rapace said that despite the material’s energetic, fun tone, she is doing a lot of research to make sure her character is as authentic as possible.

I’m doing a lot of research about gypsies,” she explained. “I’m going to Paris to visit some gypsy camps, and I’m going to Transylvania to actually see how they live. Because the gypsies are so poor, they live pretty much the same as they did then, and they keep in the traditions and all of that, so when you go to Transylvania, for example, they live pretty close to the way they lived hundreds of years ago. So I’m listening to gypsy music and I’m learning to sing and dance.

The production of Ritchie’s film has largely been shrouded in mystery thus far, protecting its secrets so they can be properly revealed when the film is released on December 16, 2011. But Rapace revealed that the sequel has a similar tone to the first film, and she’s enjoying exploring that kind of creative environment. “It’s really fun,” she said. “I like the guys I’m working with. I think [in ‘Sherlock Holmes 2’], we’re working in that same kind of landscape. They have created some kind of world, and it’s really fun to work with them.”

Article courtesy the San Franscisco Chronicle: On the phone, what jumps out about Sweden’s Noomi Rapace, who indelibly portrayed iron-willed woman of few words Lisbeth Salander in the “Millennium Trilogy” films, is her British-inflected English and rapid-fire, energetic speech. “I think she’s a beautiful example of how you can manage to survive and turn yourself from being a victim, being pissed on and treated so badly, how you can turn it into strength and into power,” she says of the much-beloved character. “She doesn’t feel pity for herself. She doesn’t complain. She always finds a way to act instead of being wrapped up in a lot of emotional issues. She’s a survivor and a fighter, and she’s trying every minute to free herself and not accept the destiny that everybody around her, pretty much, has forced her into. I think that’s pretty beautiful.”

Article courtesy The New York Times. Remember that mysterious, unpublished, unconfirmed manuscript of the fourth book in Stieg Larsson’s best-selling “Millennium” series? It’s actually the fifth book. So said Mr. Larsson’s brother, Joakim, in an interview on CBS that was broadcast on Sunday. “I got an e-mail from Stieg 10 days before he died, where he said that book four is nearly finished,” Joakim Larsson said in the interview, which also included his father, Erland. “To make it more complicated, this book No. 4 – that’s book No. 5,” he added. “Because he thought that was more fun to write.” The disclosure – should it be true – adds another turn to an already twisty personal story that is nearly as complicated as the plots of the Swedish crime mysteries that Mr. Larsson wrote.

The first three books of the “Millennium” series, beginning with “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” and ending with “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest,” have become a publishing phenomenon, with tens of millions of copies in print. Mr. Larsson did not live to see the books published; he died of a heart attack in 2004, at the age of 50. The author had said he intended the series to consist of 10 books, and he was working on a manuscript when he died. Under Swedish law, control of his estate went to his family, not to Eva Gabrielsson, his longtime companion. Ms. Gabrielsson, who is reportedly in possession of a laptop containing the manuscript, declined to comment to CBS. Paul Bogaards, a spokesman for Knopf, the American publisher of the “Millennium” books, said he believed the unpublished manuscript existed but did not know whether it was intended to be the fourth book or the fifth. Whether it will ever be published is another question. Depending on the plot and substance of the story, it is possible that it could work as the fourth book in the series, even if it had been intended to be the fifth. According to CBS, the Larssons said they would not allow the book to be published.

Again, with many thanks to Mariana, high quality scans from the Summer 2009 issue of Swedish Film magazine have been added to the gallery. The article is in English, so I’m sure most of you can read it :-)

With many thanks to the great Mariana, scans from Paper Magazine (Spring 2010) and Bon International (Spring/Summer 2010) have been added to the Image Library. Enjoy reading!

The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, on newsstands October 15, 2010, features a spread on Noomi, entitled “Dragon Tattoo and Beyond”. Be sure to pick your copy – and if anyone is able to contribute scans, please drop me a line :-)

Article courtesy Variety: For many, Sweden’s Noomi Rapace is Lisbeth Salander – the way Basil Rathbone is Sherlock Holmes and Sean Connery (for some) is still James Bond. But having made the hard-as-diamonds heroine of the late Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” (and its two Swedish-made sequels) so indelible, Rapace had done all the Salandering she wanted to do. “It was a bit scary,” she said of the reaction to the movies, whose fanbase (going by book sales) numbered in the tens of millions before the movies even opened. “I think that everybody can understand her and love her for never giving up,” Rapace laughed. “But you’re like, ‘Wait a minute, what kind of world would it be if we had a Lisbeth army?’ ”

In the wake of an army of American starlets having jockeyed for the role in an English-langauge version being directed by David Fincher, Rapace found herself in Venice, where director Pernilla August was premiering her drama “Beyond,” in which Rapace plays a young mother with personal problems (though not, it should be stressed, Salander-sized problems). “I wasn’t looking for something really different,” said the Swedish-Spanish actress, 30. “It just came to me, and I liked the script. But I don’t ever want to repeat myself.” She said she made it very clear early on that she had zero interest in the Fincher-helmed remake of “Dragon Tattoo” (in which Rooney Mara has been cast). “It doesn’t matter who’s going to direct the film or who the co-stars are,” she says. “I couldn’t see any reason for doing it again. But I had a great time.”

A very interesting article on Noomi’s upcoming projects courtesy The Hollywood Reporter from May 2005. Noomi Rapace, the star of Swedish hit “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” will not reprise her role as goth hacker Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s English-language adaptation of the Stieg Larsson best-seller. Speaking to THR in Cannes, Rapace said after two years shooting the Larsson “Millennium” trilogy in Swedish, she has had enough of Salander and would not accept the role even if Fincher offered it to her. “No, I’m done with her (Lisbeth), and it’s up to somebody else to step into her shoes,” Rapace said. “I don’t like to repeat myself. So it’s better if someone else does it.” But Rapace did suggest that Fincher and producer Scott Rudin expand their casting call beyond the A-listers (Natalie Portman, Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan are among those thought to be vying for the part) to include some lesser-known names. “I hope they won’t take, you know, a big celebrity … because sometimes the fame makes it difficult to believe in (the character), especially Lisbeth, who is very complicated and dark and so on,” she said. “So I hope they take someone who is a little less known. Not one of the biggest ones. We’ll see.”