Variety is reporting that Oscar winner Natalie Portman (Black Swan, Jackie) and superstar Scarlett Johansson (Captain America: Civil War, Ghost in the Shell) are both in the running for the flashy computer hacker part in The Girl in the Spider’s Web, with other actresses under consideration as well.
Both Portman and Johansson (who starred together in 2008’s The Other Boleyn Girl) originally vied for the part under director David Fincher, alongside Ellen Page, Kristen Stewart, Jennifer Lawrence, Keira Knightley, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Thirlby and Emma Watson. Fincher ultimately cast the then-little-known Rooney Mara, though she and co-star Daniel Craig (playing reporter Mikael Blomkvist) will be recast for The Girl in the Spider’s Web. Noomi Rapace (Prometheus) originated the part in the 2009 Swedish film.
Johansson is currently reprising her role as Black Widow in Marvel’s epic Avengers: Infinity War shoot, while Portman is also in running for the female lead in Ridley Scott’s real-life kidnapping drama All the Money in the World.
Fede Alvarez, the director of 2016’s breakout thriller Don’t Breathe, will helm The Girl in the Spider’s Web from a screenplay by Steven Knight and Alvarez & Jay Basu, based on the recent global bestseller written by David Lagercrantz. The production will begin principal photography in September of this year, with a release date scheduled for October 5, 2018.
