Oscar-nominated crime thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will not be shown in India after director David Fincher refused to cut scenes depicting rape and sexual intercourse.
India’s Central Board of Film Certification had insisted five scenes be excised, including two in which actors Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara make love and another in which Mara’s character Lisbeth Salander is raped by her legal guardian. Fincher refused to make changes to his film, and Sony Pictures abandoned plans for a February 10 release.
“Sony Pictures will not be releasing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in India,” read a statement from the company’s Mumbai office.
“The censor board has judged the film unsuitable for public viewing in its unaltered form and, while we are committed to maintaining and protecting the vision of the director, we will, as always, respect the guidelines set by the board.”
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the second adaptation of the first book in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, has not been an enormous box-office hit but picked up five Oscar nominations last week and is well on its way to a $200-million global haul against a budget of $90-million. Despite predictions to the contrary, production on the sequel, The Girl Who Played with Fire, is reportedly under way, with Mara and Craig set to return. —