SPOILERS: David Fincher Reveals Secrets Of 'Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'

If you're one of the many Stieg Larsson crime novel fans who has been looking forward to the American theatrical version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, your wait is almost over.

Acclaimed director David Fincher (The Social Network, Fight Club, Seven) took a chance when he sought to re-adapt the book, which had already been made into a successful Swedish movie starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist in 2009. The first film earned over $10 million in the U.S. alone, which did more than put it on the map as a potential American venture. "It's a great movie," Fincher told USA Today of the first version. "But we had to start with the book," he said of his adaptation. "That's the wellspring of everything."

Fincher's American version stars Daniel Craig and The Social Network's Rooney Mara, and focuses on a used-up journalist and savvy computer hacker who team up to investigate the truth behind a woman's murder forty years before. The book and first movie have no shortage of violence, and neither will the new film. Still, Fincher sees the more disturbing and graphic scenes as a means to an end. "I have a much more colorful and sordid reputation as a purveyor of violence than I deserve," said Fincher, no doubt referring to his more graphic projects, like Seven and Zodiac. "I just use it as a device for storytelling."

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which carries an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, will hit theaters in the U.S. on December 21.

Watch a trailer for the film here: