‘I’m freaking a lot of people out,” says Rooney Mara. The actress seen on screen with shaved black hair, bleached eyebrows and nipple, lip, nose and brow piercings is considering how she became “the face” of the holiday movie season. At age 26, the star of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” is a new kind of movie heroine.
Lisbeth Salander is an abuse victim who turns the tables on her abuser. She sticks her goth face into a decades-old mystery. Her investigating is done zipping around on a motorcycle, hacking into computers and with an emotional gaze.
Told on the phone that there’s Oscar talk, Mara laughs. “I don’t know if this is necessarily an Oscar movie,” she says. “It’s just not on my radar.”
What would be her Oscar look … just in case?
Mara cautions, “Well, my hair is still very short. It takes a long time to grow. I haven’t dyed it back to my real color yet, so it’s still black.
“I like the Lisbeth look. It’s great to be a little different, but I don’t even see it as different anymore. I look in the mirror and it’s just me.”
Many people will be staring into that face this week. Based on the first of the best-selling “millennium trilogy” crime novels by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, “Dragon Tattoo” (which opens Tuesday) is one of the most anticipated films of the holiday season.
It revolves around Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), who hires the mysterious young hacker to help solve the case of a teen who went missing decades ago on a secluded island where her rich family lives.
Noomi Rapace, a Swedish actress now appearing in the “Sherlock Holmes” sequel (see sidebar below), played Lisbeth in the three European adaptations. Mara was one of a slew of actresses considered for the American version — and most of the others had much bigger names. Scarlett Johanson was rejected. There were reports that “Harry Potter” star Emma Watson even chopped off her hair to be considered.
“When I had my first audition with the casting director, I thought I had a chance, but not a very good chance, of becoming Lisbeth,” Mara says. “After the first audition, I heard from David Fincher through the casting director and I was told I had a good chance at getting this role.”
Of course, she had worked with Fincher before in “The Social Network,” as the date who dumps Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and proves to be a catalyst for his starting Facebook.
“Honestly, I thought I had a good chance at it because I had a good feeling after that first screen test,” Mara says. “I also had an inkling that David was really behind me. That feeling got stronger as the weeks rolled on.
“I knew he was really fighting for me.”
Mara also had to keep her hopes in check. “So badly,” she says of how much she wanted the role. “Just so badly.
“Of course, I read all three books. It got to the point where I couldn’t imagine not playing the part. I knew I had to do it. I even watched the Swedish film a few months before I did my first audition, although I didn’t go back and watch it again. I wanted this to be my own.”
Once the role was hers, the next step was to play with her look. “The first step was cutting off quite a bit of hair,” Mara says. “Then I did get a few of the piercings. Quite a few. I’ll leave it at that.
“We did the haircut and the brows plus the piercings in one day. I spent another weekend with [makeup artist] Pat McGrath doing all of the makeup tests, and then we had various wardrobe fittings for the clothes.”
What did she think when the look was put together? “It was exhilarating. Not scary. There was a moment when I looked in the mirror and I saw the character I wanted to play on screen.”
There were other ways she had to transform herself.
Lisbeth’s trademark mode of transport is zipping around on her motorcycle in the snow and ice. “I had never been on a motorcycle before,” Mara admits. “It was very scary and I wasn’t looking forward to it too much. So, I spent two hours a day, five days a week just learning how to do it. I did have a stunt girl who did a lot of the riding.”
The emotional aspects of playing Lisbeth were far tougher. The character, who may suffer from Asperger’s syndrome, is violently raped by her government-appointed guardian.
“It was very hard, but like anything else you just do it,” she says of the rape scene. “It was a physically exhausting day and also emotionally exhausting.
“I was prepared for it and I knew I was going to have to do it.”
She turns the tables and sexually attacks her male assailant.
“I haven’t really heard that women like the retribution part of a rape victim attacking the man who raped her. I don’t know if that was our intention,” she says. “From early screenings, I know it’s very hard for people to watch her get back at him. Of course, there is some sort of satisfaction, but you know it’s not the satisfaction you want to have in life.
“Her attacking him isn’t something you should want. But it happens.”
To get into Lisbeth’s mindset, Mara spent time at a school for kids on the spectrum that have Asperger’s and autism. “It was helpful to talk to kids her age and see what it all really meant.”
She says working with Fincher was the other piece of the puzzle.
“I can’t imagine having gone through the experience with anyone else,” she says. “I can’t imagine making this movie with any other people. It would have been a nightmare.
“I never felt exploited. I always trusted Fincher and felt safe. It was a collaboration.”
As for Fincher’s penchant for many takes, she says, “he knows the story he’s telling and he’s not willing to compromise.”
Ask her when she became Lisbeth and she says, “I don’t think there was a single moment where I finally said, ‘I am this girl.’ You’re never quite sure if you’re doing it right. The second we finished shooting, I wished we could start all over again.
“I never think I got it right.”
Patricia Rooney Mara, 26, grew up in Bedford, N.Y., as one of four children born to New York Giants executive Timothy Christopher Mara and Kathleen McNulty. She’s the granddaughter of Art Rooney Sr., the founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers football franchise. Her grandfather was Giants founder Tim Mara. Her sister is actress Kate Mara.
“I don’t know when I decided to act,” she says. “I grew up going to different plays. And I always loved watching old movies with my mom.
“I guess that’s where it sprang from for me. I don’t know if I ever decided that acting was something I wanted to try. It’s not like it’s something I ever really decided.”
She graduated in 2010 from NYU, where she studied psychology and international relations, but went a different route. The acting bug bit hard when she was at NYU and cast in a few student films. She also did a spot with her sister Kate in “Urban Legends: Bloody Mary” (2005).
She began her career starring in videos and doing guest spots on TV shows including “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” Early movie roles include “Youth in Revolt” (2009) and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (2010),
She will star for director Terrence Malick in the upcoming “Lawless,” co-starring Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale.
In her spare time, she started a foundation called Faces of Kibera, a charity that donates food and medical care for orphans in the Kibera slum off Nairobi, Kenya, where more than a million people dwell.
Mara says she’s not ready for superstardom.
“I don’t know if anyone is ever ready for it,” she says. “I guess I won’t know until it happens. It hasn’t happened yet. Once in awhile I get, ‘Are you that girl?’ But it’s nothing crazy.”
She hasn’t seen the final cut of the movie — yet. “It’s always hard to watch yourself,” she says. “I guess you have your experience making the movie. And the final movie is never like the experience.”
If you see a slightly goth girl sitting next to you in the theater, it might just be Mara.
“Once the movie is out and everyone has seen it, I’ll go,” she promises.
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