In recent months David Fincher‘s upcoming remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been an enigmatic figure in the film world, from the release of a controversial poster that featured star Daniel Craig (playing disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist) with his arm around a topless Rooney Mara (assuming the key role of haunted hacker Lisbeth Salander from Noomi Rapace) to the leaking of a very brief teaser trailer that presented an onslaught of images set to a propulsive cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” recorded by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Late last year it was announced that Reznor would be reteaming with English musician (and producer of four NIN albums, among others) Atticus Ross, who he had successfully collaborated with on the score for Fincher’s critically-acclaimed box office hit The Social Network, to provide the score for the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo remake. Now, Sony Pictures has released a 7-minute sample of Reznor and Ross’ score at the film’s official website; you can listen to it below this article in the embedded YouTube video.

I like what I’m hearing so far. It’s a dark and brooding piece and that fits the material perfectly. The original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was an intimate character drama and a riveting detective story all rolled into one, and I hope that’s the tone that Fincher and company go for this time as well. It sounds like Reznor and Ross have composed a score that’s bound to be in every way the equal of their work on The Social Network; this is chamber music of the damned, ideal mood music for a headlong plunge into the twisted depths of the human soul.

I’ve been a bit cool on this remake up until recently seeing as how I thoroughly enjoyed the original film and Noomi Rapace has captured my lonely heart, but Fincher’s take on Stieg Larsson‘s international best-selling novel is starting to look pretty damn good.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo also stars Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright, Christopher Plummer, Embeth Davidtz, Joely Richardson, Goran Visnjic, Julian Sands, and Steven Berkoff. Steven Zaillian wrote the screenplay. The film opens on December 21, 2011.

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[Source: dragontattoo.com via /Film]