Rooney Mara really, really wanted the role of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattooo. David Fincher wanted her, too, but he still put her through two months of grueling auditions to get her into character. Mara recalled her last meeting for the movie to EW: “At that point I was just super frustrated. I was like, ‘You have to decide. Either you think I’m the girl or you don’t. There’s not much more I can do to prove it to you.’ I went in there sort of ready to fight. I was pissed. But David sat me down and gave me this long speech about the part. Then he handed me his iPad, and it had the press release on it. He said, ‘I’m prepared to send this out. You have half an hour to let me know if you want the part.’” Why does this whole casting process make us think of Natalie Portman’s “training” sequence from V For Vendetta? Anyway, David Fincher: very dramatic, apparently! [Inside Movies/EW]
