Why Rooney Mara's Resume Works For 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'

Rooney Mara is Lisbeth Salander in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," ending weeks upon weeks of speculation surrounding the coveted part in director David Fincher's developing adaptation of the late Stieg Larsson's popular crime novel. But Mara isn't exactly a household name — indeed, none of her rumored competitors were, with the exception of Natalie Portman — but perhaps that level of anonymity will actually serve her as the young actress sinks her teeth into Lisbeth, a deliciously dark and nuanced character who assists Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) in his quest to solve a 40-year-old investigation.

But Mara isn't an entirely unknown quantity. In fact, she has two high profile film roles that will prove crucial to her work on "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" — the recent "Nightmare on Elm Street" reboot and the upcoming "The Social Network."

In "Nightmare," Mara took over an iconic role in the form of Nancy Thompson, the original protagonist of the classic horror series. Though the movie itself wasn't exactly a critical darling, Mara showed a tremendous amount of potential. Her experience in filling the shoes of a popular character will be quite useful in taking over the role of Lisbeth, played in the Swedish "Dragon Tattoo" film by Noomi Rapace.

"It's quite stressful and there were big shoes to fill," Mara previously told MTV News of playing a character with a massive following, such as Nancy — and, now, Lisbeth. "People love Nancy. There's a lot of pressure to not let people down. I think our Nancy is so different from the original Nancy that you can't really compare the two, so I just remind myself of that."

Mara would do well to remind herself of that advice once again when playing Lisbeth. But even if she finds herself faltering in the face of pressure, she'll have familiar help to get her through the role in the form of the film's director, David Fincher. Mara and Fincher worked together on "The Social Network," and their collaborative experience on that set was undoubtedly one of the reasons Fincher selected the young actress for the part. With any luck, the spark between the actress in front of the camera and the filmmaker behind it will carry over when Mara steps on the set of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."

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Tags Rooney Mara, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo