NEW YORK – It took Rooney Mara two and a half months and five screen tests to land the sought-after role of Lisbeth Salander.
The competition for the fierce heroine of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” included some of the biggest names in Hollywood. The director, David Fincher, is well known for his extreme attention for detail — which Mara had witnessed firsthand in her small but memorable performance in his “The Social Network.” He shot her largest scene, the opening verbal volley between Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and his girlfriend (Mara), in 99 takes.
To become Lisbeth, Mara had to prove she shared her mettle.
“It was like I couldn’t imagine what I would be doing if I wasn’t doing that,” says Mara. “I couldn’t see forward in my life without doing it.”
It was her tenacity, ultimately, that won over Fincher, who, in an unusually drawn-out audition process, also considered Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, and Carey Mulligan, among others.
“The thing that put it over the top for me, to go, `Guys, this is my final choice,’ is: She just wasn’t going to be denied,” says Fincher. “And that indomitability was so important to Lisbeth. That is the most important thing. Forget
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