Despite reports to the contrary, it seems Rooney Mara may still appear in Sony’s long-gestating sequel to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
That’s according to the actress herself who, upon hearing that Ex Machina breakout Alicia Vikander was linked with the title role in her place, revealed that as far as she is aware, she’s still attached to the studio’s follow-up.
“As far as I know, I’m doing it until someone tells me otherwise,” she laughs to Eonline.com. “I’m doing it unless someone tells me that I’m not – and then I still might do it!”
Having starred as Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s English-language version back in 2011, question marks began to loom over Rooney Mara’s return as the illustrious hacker when Fincher’s remake fared poorly at the worldwide box office. That lingering doubt began to snowball just last week when The Hollywood Reporter unearthed news that appeared to confirm Sony was eager to push its dormant thriller in a new direction, one which wouldn’t welcome back either Mara or Daniel Craig in the leading roles.
Looking to David Lagercrantz’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web as inspiration – the first in the Millennium series not to be penned by the late, great Swedish author Stieg Larsson – the studio is angling the next chapter as a soft reboot of sorts, drafting in Locke and World War Z scribe Steven Knight to pen the script. However, Mara’s comments suggests that, at the very least, the actress is still game to reprise her role as Lisbeth Salander, jumping past the events of The Girl who Played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest in the process.
And when you consider the sheer level of commitment that Mara displayed for Fincher’s 2011 thriller, Sony would be hard-pressed to find a replacement of the same calibre. But will the actress be a part of the studio’s big screen rendition of The Girl in the Spider’s Web after all? Time will tell.