Daniel Craig Confirmed to Star in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

There's been a bit of uncertainty as of late regarding The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Daniel Craig had been in early talks to star in Sony's adaptation with David Fincher at the helm and Steve Zallian behind the typewriter. But prospects appeared gloomy when schedules from competing projects (at rival studios, no less) made things complicated for the actor.

Obviously, there's the James Bond franchise at MGM. Who are we all kidding? As much I'm looking forward to the proposed Sam Mendes-directed, Peter Morgan-penned third go-around for Craig, it's not happening anytime in the near-future. So that shouldn't have honestly been a problem to begin with. I guess the bigger fish to fry was over at Universal with the currently-lensing Cowboys & Aliens. The same one directed by Jon Favreau, co-starring the likes of Harrison Ford and was widely considered one of the high-lights of this past weekend's Comic-Con.

Thankfully for Craig, that crisis appears to have been averted. "TOLDJA" reports he's inked a three-picture deal starting with Dragon Tattoo and its follow-ups The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. That's assuming the first film (scheduled for a high-profile Christmas 2011 release) is a hit which everyone is hoping will be the case.

It looks like everyone has cleared out a do-able timeline for Craig for the next Bond, a Cowboys & Aliens sequel, and the afore-mentioned Millennium Trilogy.

You gotta know this is especially gratifying for Craig considering all that bullshit press he got when he was first announced the latest 007.