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Rooney Mara: I'm Still Signed to Star in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Sequel

The actress talks about playing Lisbeth Salander again

By Marc Malkin Nov 13, 2015 1:30 PMTags
Watch: Is Rooney Mara Doing Another "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"?

Don't count Rooney Mara out just yet.

Despite reports that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will get a reboot without Mara and Daniel Craig in the lead roles, the actress tells me she's still attached to the series.

"As far as I know I'm doing it until someone tells me otherwise," Mara told me yesterday while promoting Carol, her new romantic drama with Cate Blanchett.

Sony has hired Steven Knight to adapt The Girl in the Spider's Web, the fourth book in the series and the only one not penned by Stieg Larsson.

Columbia

Mara told me in February she was doubtful she'd ever reprise the role of Lisbeth Salander because she thought the Dragon Tattoo sequel was dead in the water. "I'm sad never to do it again, but it just doesn't seem like it's in the cards," she said at the time.

We're happy to report that it appears her feelings have changed, saying "of course" she wants another shot at it. "I'm doing it unless someone tells me that I'm not—and then I still might do it," Mara said with a laugh.

In Carol, Mara plays Therese, a 1950s department store clerk who falls for an older woman, Carol, an upper middleclass housewife played by Blanchett.

The chemistry between the two is almost tangible.

The Weinstein Company

"I was instantly drawn to her," Mara said of her Oscar-winning co-star. "She is undeniably magnetic on film and in person. But you just never know if chemistry is going to translate on film. You never know."

In the film, Carol's custody battle over her daughter gets ugly when her estranged husband (Kyle Chandler) threatens to use her sexuality against her in court.

"I think living during that time wouldn't have just been hard for two women in love or two men in love. Honestly, I think it was hard for women in general to be alive at that time," Mara said.

But now we have same-sex marriage in the U.S. Mara said, "It seems crazy to me that it ever was in question or not allowed."

Directed by Todd Haynes and also starring Sarah Paulson, Carol is in theaters Nov. 20.

Watch: Rooney Mara Talks Chemistry With Blanchett in "Carol"