casting couch

Rooney Mara Takes Blake Lively’s Job

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 14: Actress Rooney Mara attends the 8th Annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards at the Skylight SOHO on November 14, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by D Dipasupil/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 13: Actress Rooney Mara attends the Rodarte Spring 2012 fashion show at Pace Gallery during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on September 13, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Charles Eshelman/Getty Images) Photo: D Dipasupil/2011 Getty Images

Rooney Mara is taking over for Blake Lively in Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming psychopharmacology drama Side Effects (formerly known as The Bitter Pill, and then as The Side Effects), according to Deadline, following rumors that the producer had backed out of financing the film because of Lively’s casting. Mara will play an anxiety-prone pill abuser who’s dreading her husband’s release from prison; Channing Tatum will play her husband, and Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones will play two of her doctors. Financing for the film fell apart last week — perhaps indicating a lack of confidence in Lively — but Mara’s casting will likely set things back in motion. More important, it raises the question of why there haven’t been more (any?) Gossip Girl With the Dragon Tattoo mash-ups.

Rooney Mara Takes Blake Lively’s Job