Natalie Portman is the bookies' favourite to land the role of Lisbeth Salander in the Hollywood remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, based on the best-selling book by Stieg Larsson.

Paddy Power has made the 29-year-old Israeli-American their 11/4 favourite ahead of Harry Potter star Emma Watson and Twilight's Kristen Stewart.

The role of the tough, leather-clad, tattoo covered biker will be a far cry from her last film, New York, I love You, where she played a strictly Orthodox Jewish bride preparing for her wedding to a Chasidic man.