While the sequel to “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” may not be moving forward any time soon (read, ever), bffs David Fincher and Rooney Mara have found a way to move forward together. But this time, it’s an entirely different project. The director and actress are circling “Red Sparrow,” an espionage book that’s being adapted by Eric Singer, the screenwriter of “American Hustle.” 20th Century Fox, who are distributing Fincher’s next film, “Gone Girl,” are currently in talks with Singer to adapt the spy thriller by Jason Matthews.
It would be at a familiar home too; Steve Zaillian’s Film Rites is one of the producers and Zaillian obviously wrote “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” and the sequel that stalled out at Sony. Based on Jason Matthews’ book "Red Sparrow is set in present-day Russia, and Mara would play Russian intelligence officer who struggles to survive in the post-Soviet intelligence jungle. Fun fact: Fincher pal Darren Aronofsky was circling the same project, but ultimately moved on earlier this year. Here’s a long form official Amazon synopsis.
In present-day Russia, ruled by blue-eyed, unblinking President Vladimir Putin, Russian intelligence officer Dominika Egorova struggles to survive in the post-Soviet intelligence jungle. Ordered against her will to become a “Sparrow,” a trained seductress, Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a young CIA officer who handles the Agency’s most important Russian mole.
As the action careens between Russia, Finland, Greece, Italy, and the United States, Dominika and Nate soon collide in a duel of wills, tradecraft, and—inevitably—forbidden passion that threatens not just their lives but those of others as well. As secret allegiances are made and broken, Dominika and Nate’s game reaches a deadly crossroads. Soon one of them begins a dangerous double existence in a life-and-death operation that consumes intelligence agencies from Moscow to Washington, DC.
Page by page, veteran CIA officer Jason Matthews’s Red Sparrow delights, terrifies and fascinates, all while delivering an unforgettable cast, from a sadistic Spetsnaz “mechanic” who carries out Putin’s murderous schemes to the weary CIA Station Chief who resists Washington “cake-eaters”. Packed with insider detail, this novel brims with Matthews’s life experience of espionage, counterintelligence, spy recruitment, and cyber-warfare. Brilliantly composed, Red Sparrow is a masterful spy tale. Authentic, tense, and entertaining, this novel introduces Jason Matthews as a major new American talent.
Deadline reports that project is still early, Singer hasn’t even written the script yet, nor has a deal closed, but Fincher and Mara are interested in reuniting and the material. The reunion, if it happens, would be their third after "The Social Network" and ‘TGWTDT.’