Rooney Mara is set for her big breakout in the upcoming "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo," but it's not as if the 26-year old is making her Hollywood debut. That came in a 2006 episode of "Law & Order: SVU," though she seems to rather regret that first big show business outing.
"It was so awful. So stupid," Mara tells Allure of her turn on the show. "Me and my boyfriend -- although I [didn't] look old enough to have a boyfriend -- went and beat up these fat people, and at the end of the show you find out that I used to be obese and I hate fat people. It's ridiculous. Who would ever do that? Who would beat someone up because they're fat?"
Unfortunately, the answer is that a lot of people would, which is probably why it made it to the ripped-from-the-headlines show. In any case, it was just the first of a series of different TV and film appearances over the next five years. There were the episodes of "Women's Murder Club," "The Cleaner" and "ER," as well as parts in "Youth In Revolt," "Tanner Hall," "A Nightmare On Elm Street" and then, the fateful opening scene in "The Social Network."
That Oscar-nominated film's director, David Fincher, was won over by Mara's scene-stealing dumping of Jessie Eisenberg's Mark Zuckerberg, and fought to make sure she got the lead in his adaptation of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo." In fact, her light resume actually worked in her favor when it came to that casting call.
"I don't think [director] David [Fincher]'s intention was ever to hire someone well-known," she tells Allure. "To make this movie, he needed someone that people were unfamiliar with because it's the only way they would really believe this character. She's such a mystery. You couldn't hire someone that people already have a relationship with."
For more, click over to Allure.