Lady of the Moment: Rooney Mara

Rooney Mara is making waves with the premiere of the English adaptation of the Swedish film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The film tour has marked Mara as a one-to-watch on the red carpet as award season approaches. The fashion news may be Mara’s choice of mid-driff baring gowns and frocks but when you have the physique coupled with the new A-List star status, designer options will inevitably flow in and Mara’s choices have been simplisticly edgy. She has made that combination possible with clean make-up, no accessories, and slick hair.

Mara’s red carpet looks have caused quite a stir, this past week, clad in gowns like a white lace, open back Givenchy couture gown at the London premiere; a black cutout jumpsuit by Roksanda Ilincic at the Stockholm premiere; and, in her latest, a black Prabal Gurung cutout frock from the Spring 12 runway at the New York premiere. Mara states that she has not yet, “degothed” herself after remaining in dark character for a year. Previous to Lisbeth fame, Mara admits she was a bit of a girly girl who gravitated towards ruffles and sweet styles. She has been unveiled on the red carpet to be quite the opposite – a slim, dark beauty. (Mara is naturally light haired.)

Mara delivers an unforgettable performance as heroine, Lisbeth Salander. Mara won the role over top names like, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman. After a casting director suggested Mara to director David Fincher, she auditioned for the role. The audition surprised Fincher and lead him to grow adamant about choosing Mara for the role after push back from movie execs. Fincher felt she was the right fit for the role because she was little known and possessed a dark Salander quality that could be advantageous for the role.

“I believe in casting people whose core – that essential personality you can’t beat out of them with a tire iron – has to work for the character.” Fincher tells Vogue. He was “struck by how different it was from what I felt I already knew about her.” That is, how different her audition was from what he knew about Mara from working together on The Social Network. (Mara played Mark Zuckerberg’s girlfriend, Erica Albright, in the movie.) Mara won Fincher over and then began transforming herself into author Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander.

“I had prepared myself and I knew how emotionally and physically challenging making The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would be, but the whole project really pushed me. The physical challenge was probably even more shocking than the emotional, because there were lots of days that we were doing stunts, with many takes, over and over.” Mara tells the Daily Telegraph. Mara had to learn how to ride a motorcycle, in addition to actually getting pierced for the role reflecting her dedication to a role she cannot quite purge.

In addition to being “football royalty” – Mara’s grandfather and great grandfather founded the Pittsburgh Steelers football franchise and the Giants, respectively, and Mara’s father is a Giants executive, Mara is also younger sister to actress Kate Mara (Iron Man 2 and 127 Hours).

Mara is already rumored to be gearing up for the 2nd of the Stieg Larsson trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire.