THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (Daniel Craig Speaks)

• THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO RATED R

Esquire talked to Daniel Craig about starring in David Fincher's upcoming The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

"It's as adult as you can possibly make it. This is adult drama," he said. "I grew up, as we f*cking all did, watching 'The Godfather' and that, movies that were made for adults. And this is a $100 million R-rated movie. Nobody makes those anymore. And Fincher, he's not holding back. They've given him free rein. He showed me some scenes recently, and my hand was over my mouth, going, Are you f*cking serious?"

Craig added that it's not all about what you do get so see. "It's not that he simply showed me footage that was horribly graphic. It was stuff that was happening, or had happened. And somehow you don't see it... There's more than one way to sense violence... Much more powerful ways than seeing it step-by-step."

Bear in mind that there is an actually rape scene in the film, it could turn out to be a very horrific scene, if Craig is right.

The movie is the first film in Columbia Pictures' three-picture adaptation of Stieg Larsson's literary blockbuster "The Millennium Trilogy."

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opens in theaters on December 21. Before that release, you'll be able to see Craig in Cowboys & Aliens on July 29, followed by Dream House on September 30.