Shooting on My Street

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Review.

On location, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stefan Stenudd

Hollywood came to my street in Stockholm. For a day and a night, they were shooting scenes for the Stieg Larsson crime story The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The size of it! Hollywood is a flashmob Caesar.

Stieg Larsson's trilogy became world best sellers soon after his own death, and they remain on top the the lists to this day. So, filming the stories, Hollywood brings the whole artillery.

For the short scenes they were shooting on my street in Stockholm, they brought a fleet of big trucks, a staff of more than 70, and tons of equipment. They used a crane reaching high above the buildings, just for holding up a white screen to even out the light. And for the night scene they covered the whole block with artifical snow, to make it winter.

On location, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

All of it was just for a few seconds of film, showing Daniel Craig arriving in a Volvo and stepping into a building. They had additional cars and drivers to simulate regular traffic, and a number of extras walking around as regular pedestrians. Nothing was left to chance.

The text on the back of the spotlight says Daylight.

The story has been filmed before by a Swedish movie company, but that was done with significantly less resources. Hollywood is in its own league. I marveled at the size of the project, as it kept me up all night.

By five in the morning they were finished filming, and three hours later there was no other trace of them than some small remains of artificial snow in a few corners. Like a flashmob. Come, perform, be gone.

I took the photos with my simple mobile phone camera, so the quality isn't great.

Here's the official trailer for the movie, which will open in December this year: