One of my favourite new characters from The Girl Who Played With Fire is the boxer Paolo Roberto … who sort of just pops up and saves Miriam Wu from the Blonde Giant a.k.a. Ronald Niedermann (before he can chop her up with a chain saw!).
And what’s more: Paolo is actually a real person – an ex-boxer, TV-host and politician! And in the movie adaptation of The Girl Who Played With Fire he plays … himself. How cool is that?!
Well, pretty cool, I think. And so, apparently, did Stieg Larsson. For his role shouldn’t really work - in the second book, I mean. Paolo’s sudden appearance in the story is obviously just a ‘darling’ for Larsson; something he probably thought would be really fun to have in the story but which wasn’t a crucial, or even necessary, as an ingredient in the plot.
After all, it could have been virtually anyone who saved Miriam Wu. Come to think of it, Miriam’s kidnapping needn’t even have been in the book! The story could just have concentrated on the hunt for Lisbeth Salander, while she and Micke Blomkvist – each in their own way – try to clear her from triple-homicide charges, evade the police and at the same time survive the merciless (and emotionless) Ronald Niedermann.
So: It’s not necessary for Paolo Roberto to show up in order for the story to flow but Paolo shows up, kicks ass, and … it works.
Why? Well, I guess it depends a bit on taste. And how much you like references to other movies. To my mind Stieg Larsson had a very keen, but intuitive, sense of what felt ‘natural’ to write about in traditional Scandinavian crime thrillers – and – what was cool in American action movies.
And he manages to blend in quite well some elements from the latter genre, including an homage to Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill in the infamous scene where Lisbeth Salander ‘returns from the grave’. Sure, it’s by and large a matter of taste whether or not you think it works seamlessly in the story, or whether it feels too contrived and off beat that we suddenly are invited to 10 pages of boxing match (with a real boxer) in the middle of a murder hunt.
Paolo Balboa?
Another reason you may like Paolo Roberto’s guest appearance is of course if you, like me, have a weakness for … the old Rocky boxing movies starring Sylvester Stallone.
Adrian: It’s suicide. You’ve seen him, you know how strong he is. You can’t win.
Rocky: Oh, Adrian. Adrian always tells the truth. No, maybe I can’t win. Maybe the only thing I can do is just take everything he’s got. But to beat me, he’s going to have to kill me. And to kill me, he’s gonna have to have the heart to stand in front of me. And to do that, he’s got to be willing to die himself. I don’t know if he’s ready to do that. I don’t know
The above quote is from Rocky IV, which – incidentally – is about Rocky Balboa fighting a big blonde hulk of a man, Russian champ Ivan Drago, played by Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren!
And the similarities don’t end there: In Rocky IV Drago is also portrayed as a ‘human fighting machine’, as someone impervious to pain – exactly like Niedermann who is literally immune to the physical sensation of pain due to an exotic illness of the nerves.
In the old film Rocky has to mobilise all his ‘fighting spirit’, then, to defeat Drago – which he does. Paolo Roberto doesn’t exactly defeat Niedermann but holds out against him long enough for Miriam Wu to kick him in a certain place = distraction – and voila: Paolo can nail him with a plank used as club, right in the head.
Considering the similarities I just mentioned, between the two movies, I’ll gladly bet you 10 bucks that Stieg Larsson saw Rocky IV as well – back in the eighties – and that he liked it just enough to pay tribute to it in The Girl Who Played With Fire.
Unless of course, he the reference was some kind of elaborate joke. I guess we’ll never know now.
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FRIENDLY FACTS: Paolo Roberto, born February 3, 1969, grew up in Upplands Väsby, Stockholm County. He is a former pro boxer, television presenter, actor, author and television chef. He ran for parliament for the Swedish Social Democrats, a party he left in favour of the Christian Democrats. He is also active as an actor and his breakthrough was starring in the film Stockholmsnatt of 1987, which was loosely based on his own experiences as a violent young offender. In addition to having had a professional boxing career, Roberto has practised taekwondo, kickboxing and judo. Obviously a man of many talents …
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A lovable link-collection about Paolo Roberto
www.paoloroberto.com – the man’s own home page in all its glory. Tasteful, professional and interesting. Check it out! (And no, Paolo’s not paying me to say this – it really looks that good.)
Wikipedia on Paolo – gives you the absolutely necessary details of his bio. But if you want a little more detail (and can read Swedish, you should go to that edition).
Paolo’s movies – yes, he’s been in more than just The Girl Who Played With Fire.
Kickboxing video – Paolo Roberto meets Marcus Öberg in a sparring match. Not bad.
For more videos about Paolo and all things Millennium – see my ever-growing collection on YouTube.
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