Dragon Tattoo actor to play villain in Mission: Impossible IV

Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest) has been tapped to play the villain for Paramount’s fourth Mission: Impossible film, according to Variety. The Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille)-directed espionage thriller is set to begin shooting this fall in Vancouver, Prague, Dubai and the U.S.

The next Mission: Impossible is now firmly in gear, after reports that Tom Cruise was seen scouting locations in Prague for the film just yesterday. Paramount has also already set a December 16, 2011 release date.

Nyqvist joins Cruise, along with newcomers Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and Vladimir Mashkov, on the fourth “Mission”, with Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames confirmed to be returning. IMDB has the new “Nikita” Maggie Q and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as rumored to be making an appearance as well.

J.J. Abrams will produce from the Bad Robot perch, along with Cruise, and the script is by Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec.

According to the Variety report, insiders have disclosed that the fourth movie in the franchise probably won’t be titled Mission: Impossible IV, however, it’s hard for me to believe producers would scrap the Mission: Impossible brand name altogether. Though this could hint at some creativity with the new title.