Swedish News:
Lisbet Salander - "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" - will be played by little-known actress. Max von Sydow will also join crew. More difficult to find illegal immigrants. New method for pain.
Salander will be played by little-known actress
An unknown American actress by the name of Rooney Mara will portray the character Lisbet Salander in the Hollywood version of Stieg Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". This according to the movie corporation Columbia. Casting the part of Salander (so brilliantly played in the Swedish version by Noomi Rapace) has posed a problem: The entire film, as well as the books by Stieg Larsson, really hinges on Salander and she is definitely not your run-of-the-mill heroine, rather an odd girl both visually and temperamentally. Mara's credits include "Dare" and the upcoming "The Winning Season". She also starred in the remake of "A Natural on Elm Street". Mara is a native of Bedford, New York. Nordstjernan earlier reported that Daniel Craig (James Bond) will play the male lead Mikael Blomkvist. (http://www.nordstjernan.com/news/sweden/2504/) The shooting of the movie will commence in Sweden this fall with David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network) as film director.
Max von Sydow to join "The Girl…" crew
More news about the American remake of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo". A fresh report from Variety reveals that Max von Sydow, who most recently played the creepy German doctor in "Shutter Island", is in talks for the role of Henrik Vanger. If so, then von Sydow, who is 81 years old, will join quite a lineup of talented stars. One bizarre twist is that director David Fincher has decided he wants all the actors in his film must speak English with a Swedish accent, an easy enough job for both von Sydow and Stellan Skarsgård of course. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is one of the most talked about movie projects in a long time.
Difficult to find illegal immigrants
New routines in Malmö, south Sweden, make it more difficult for the police to find illegal immigrants, who usually come to Sweden through Malmö. According to daily newspaper Sydsvenskan, Malmö municipality has decided to change the routines when it comes to lists of recently married couples. Earlier, the Malmö police got access to these lists of married couples in the municipality once a month with name and personal identity numbers. With this information, the police could then detect if one of the spouses was staying illegally in Sweden. According to the newer routines, personal identity numbers are not specified on these lists, all for the sake of protecting personal integrity. "We have discussed the issue and agreed that we want to protect the personal sphere, and we have decided to no longer write the personal identity number in the lists," says Tomas Bärring, secretariat director in Malmö. The border police, which makes raids several times per week at civil weddings, are not too happy. "Any information we can get is important, so it is natural that it makes it more complicated for us if we don't get any information," says Sven-Olof Kajrup, group chief at the border police unit. The police can still access the personal identity numbers for the future spouses through applying for marriage proof documents.
New method for pain
A Swede, Carl-Joel Johansson, is the first person in the world to try a new kind of painkiller. Thanks to a nerve stimulator that has been operated under the skin of his lower belly, Carl-Joel doesn't need to take any more pills to kill his pain. The little box is guided by a remote control. "I'm grateful to the team of neurosurgeons who helped me at Sahlgrenska University Hospital," says Carl-Joel, who has been in pain ever since 2005 when he crushed both hands in a fall from a roof. His hands were first in plaster, later in a so-called Hoffman frame, in which his hands remained fixed and made it extremely difficult for him to execute everyday things like cooking, taking a shower and getting dressed. "But worst of all," says Carl-Joel, "was the pain. The pain in the nerves was constant and I could sleep no more than 2 hours at a time." Now, after the successful operation he can function normally again. "This new type of stimulator opens up new possibilities for a large group of patients," says Kliment Gatzinsky, senior surgeon at Sahlgrenska in Göteborg. "To break nerve pain is difficult, and so far pain relieving medicine and nerve stimulation, TNS (transcutaneous nerve stimulation), is all we've had available." According to Gatzinsky, the patients who could benefit from a nerve stimulator like this are sciatica patients suffering from the pains of a slipped disc, where all other kinds of painkillers have been tried and not worked. "This method has its roots in the TNS, which is common in treating pain, it's developed out of that. But with this new, battery-driven stimulator we simply have so many more possibilities."