Directing 'The Girl in the Spider's Web' was a double-edged sword: Fede Alvarez

Director Fede Alvarez, best known for "Evil Dead" and "Don't Breathe", is not new to reboots but "The Girl in the Spider's Web" presented a different challenge with its well established legacy in literature as well as in cinema.

Starring "The Crown" star Claire Foy as the Swedish vigilante hacker Lisbeth Salander, the film is based on Steig Larsson's famous heroine but not on the original three books he wrote. His film is based on the fourth book in the Millennium series, which was written by David Lagercrantz.

The first three books have been adapted in Swedish cinema. In 2011, David Fincher tackled its Hollywood counterpart for Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is also behind this new take.

But Alvarez, 40, says his interpretation of Salander is different and a kind of an introduction to a new generation.

"It is like a double-edged sword. There is a great part that makes it easier which is that you are going to bring a character to the screen that has been tested and I knew if I am faithful to the book, it will resonate with the world.

"But we forget how fast time goes by. A woman in her 20s will come out and watch the film because she was just 12 when the Fincher's movie came out. I make films for new audiences. This is a completely different film," he told PTI in an interview over phone ahead of the film's release in India this Friday.

The film also features Sverrir Gudnason, LaKeith Stanfield, Sylvia Hoeks and Claes Bang in pivotal roles.

The Uruguayan director said his feature debut was also a reboot and he understands that critics will always compare a film to the last version but it is something that the audiences don't bother about.

"My first movie was an adaptation of another movie and at that time people compared it with the other one and judged it, which is silly. It makes no sense to the audiences, who don't care about it. For them, they either like it or don't like it."
"Good characters inspire people and they make you think that if she can do this, then I also can do it because she is not big or super powerful or strong, she just has endless will and a really good moral compass. Big characters like that in fiction are really inspiring."
"But lately because of social media, people know a lot more about actors and a lot more about their private life. They tend to have a strong opinion about who the actors are and so they go like 'This makes no sense'."