Reiner Bajo/Sony Pictures EntertainmentClaire Foy just won an Emmy for playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown on Netflix, and there’s already Oscar buzz surrounding her role as Neil Armstrong’s wife, Janet Armstrong, in the recently released biopic First Man. Now Foy’s kicking butt and taking names in the new crime thriller The Girl in the Spider’s Web: A New Dragon Tattoo Story.
Foy plays the vengeful computer hacker Lisbeth Salander in the film — the third actor to play the part on the big screen in the Dragon Tattoo franchise, following Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara.
“I’d always loved the character,” Foy said in a recent appearance on ABC’s Popcorn with Peter Travers. “I read the novels and she was someone that kind of jumped out of the page for me. And someone that I’d never read before. I’d never read a character like her.”
In The Girl in the Spider’s Web, Foy’s character is recruited to steal a computer program with access codes for nuclear weapons. But when things go awry, she’s forced to take matters into her own hands to avert disaster. That’s when the real action begins.
“There’s a lot of darkness there and a lot of pain,” Foy told Travers about the role. “But I really enjoyed the stunt work. I enjoyed learning to do the fight sequences and physically transforming in that way. I’d never done that before and I really enjoyed that.”
The role may have been new to Foy, but she said she identifies in some way with all of the roles she plays.
“I’ve got all of them living in me somewhere,” Foy concedes. “Different facets of their characters are definitely things that I sort of want to face in myself or things I’m sort of fascinated by. There’s always a reason why you play each character. But all three definitely are in there.”
The Girl in the Spider’s Web: A New Dragon Tattoo Story is in theaters now.
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