Rooney Mara cast alongside Daniel Craig in Dragon Tattoo

It was perhaps one of the hottest roles in Hollywood: Lisbeth Salander the pretty punk princess at the center of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. While director David Fincher had settled on Daniel Craig as his male lead fairly early on, Fincher took his time finding the right girl for GIRL. Carey Mulligan and Ellen Page were in the running and Emma Watson even chopped off her hair for the audition. But in the end, Fincher maintained he wanted an unknown and, while he didn’t exactly cast an unknown, he got something with a slightly lower profile.

Fincher and Sony Pictures have cast Rooney Mara (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET) to star alongside Craig in DRAGON TATTOO. As per a deal struck when she did her screentest, Mara is signed on for all three books in the trilogy including THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE and THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST. Mara is no stranger to Fincher having filmed a role in the upcoming drama THE SOCIAL NETWORK for the director. While some are already complaining that Mara’s performance in ELM STREET was so wooden in made Paul Walker look like Sir Laurence Olivier by comparison, remember that Fincher has a tendency to bring out the best in actors.

Filming on DRAGON TATTOO is set to begin next month in, where else?, Sweden with a December, 2011 release planned. THE SOCIAL NETWORK hits theaters on October 1.