Go Behind the Scenes of 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' Opening Titles

Monday, 09 January 2012 10:08 Written by Jordan DeSaulnier

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Go Behind the Scenes of 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' Opening Titles

Sony Pictures has made no bones about its intention to adapt the entirety of the late Stieg Larsson's bestselling Millennium Trilogy, starting with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. That film is performing reasonably well in theaters right now, and the studio is continuing development on the first sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire, though it's unknown whether or not director David Fincher will return. Given the obvious franchise intentions, it's no surprise that the opening title sequence for the first film visually incorporates moments from all three novels.

That title sequence strongly recalls some of Fincher's distinctive work as a director of both commercials and music videos, as well as (to a lesser extent) the titles to his 1995 thriller Se7en. The titles feature a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" by composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, along with Yeah Yeah Yeahs lead singer Karen O, and its a testament hypnotic, at times assaultive style that the song doesn't simply overwhelm the visual presentation.

The two and a half minute title sequence, complete with oily craziness, flames, Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig's visages, and sentient, serpentine USB cables was created by Blur Studio. A new behind the scenes article at Wired examines the opening in greater detail, with Blur co-founder and the sequence's creative director Tim Miller explaining the processes behind it.

According to Miller, the Blur team worked with Fincher to select 26 individual moments from the Millennium Trilogy to be peppered throughout the 252 shots that comprise the titles. Watch the sequence below and keep your eyes out for things like a crushed flower, a dude on fire, and some hornets.

And here's a breakdown of just how Blur created those distinctive visuals using digital implements like 3ds Max, Softimage, and RealFlow, along with 3D scans of Mara and Craig. It's a good, quick watch:

Head over to Wired for the full article. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is currently playing at a theater near you. We'll be sure to keep you updated as to the involvement of David Fincher, who previously asserted that if he directs, both The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest would likely film back-to-back.