"Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" Star Rooney Mara Talks About The Controversial Teaser Poster, Shooting The Film's Rape Scene

Source: Entertainment Weekly

There are very few filmakers I trust that each and every time I pay my money to see their movies, I am going to get every penny's worth of entertainment. David Fincher is one of those guys. And, as a huge fan of author Stieg Larrson's Millinium trilogy of novels featuring prominent female lead character Lisbeth Salander, along with the Swedish films that followed, I couldn't think of a more worthy guy than Fincher to remake 2009's Swedish film "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" for US audiences.

Taking a look at this new picture taken from the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, featuring Rooney Mara as Salander (above), I would say that Fincher and Mara have the look down pretty well. This look, however, couldn't be any further removed from her topless portrayal of the character in the film's controversial teaser poster from June, which had co-star Daniel Craig embracing her from behind as her right breast and nipple were exposed through the lettering. This poster caused so much controversy that Sony Pictures had to come out with an alternate, more PG-13 rated one. "I was supportive of it," Mara told the magazine. "I understand why there was so much controversy. People have a hard time with strong females and nudity. But, I think had I been doing something incredibly violent on the poster, people wouldn't have had a problem with it. That says a lot about the world we live in."

Mara also spoke about the film's impending rape scene, which anyone who has read the book or seen the original film can attest to the discomfort that comes with witnessing. "It was incredibly intense," Mara said, "We worked 16 hours on Valentine's Day to do it. But, it's an important scene, and we wanted to make sure we got it right."

The film, about a journalist (Craig) who enlists the help of disturbed, yet brilliant computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Mara) to help find a woman who has been missing for 40 years, also stars Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright, Julian Sands (Warlock!!!), Christopher Plummer, Embeth Davidtz, Joely Richardson, and Goran Visnjic. Its script is written by Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List, Hannibal). It comes out December 21st.

Note: Was anyone else rooting for Ellen Page ("Juno") to get this role?