Director David Fincher's selection of Rooney Mara to take on the role of Lisbeth Salander in the upcoming U.S. film version of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo came as a surprise to many. Mara, whose elegant, refined appearance has made her ideal for a series of “good girl” roles, seemed an unusual choice to play the bisexual, alienated computer hacker introduced in the first book of Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy.
One look at the cover of the February 2011 issue of W Magazine – or at its accompanying slideshow – should be sufficient to dispel any doubts that the actress meets the physical requirements for the role. In addition to the requisite tattoos and body piercings, Mara appears with chopped hair, bleached eyebrows and bloody fingernails.
Fincher, though, was not at all startled by Mara’s transformation. “I wanted her from the beginning,” he stated in the accompanying article, “David Fincher Gets the Girl.”
“Rooney may be a trust-fund baby from football royalty, but she’s levelheaded and hardworking,” he added. “It’s so odd how who people are comes out in auditions. We didn’t make it easy for Rooney, and there was no way to dissuade her.”
Although the question of Mara’s likeness to Lisbeth Salander appears to have been resolved, the magazine article points out that Finch has departed from Larsson’s story in several ways that are equally likely to raise comments. He has downplayed the promiscuous nature of Mikael Blomkvist, the Swedish journalist who is portrayed by James Bond actor Daniel Craig, and made Lisbeth Salander more aggressive.
Most controversial of all is the fact that scriptwriter Steven Zaillian has come up with an ending for the film that is completely different from Larsson’s. Those who flock the theaters for the Dec. 21, 2011 debut of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo will be among the first to judge its effectiveness.
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