It’s only been a few weeks since the epic search for an actress to play the already-iconic role of Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s version of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” was completed. And of course, relative unknown and “The Social Network” star Rooney Mara beat out the likes of Ellen Page, Emily Browning and Lea Seydoux to the part.
Filming kicks off in Sweden later in the month, with Mara joining Daniel Craig, Robin Wright, Stellan Skarsgard and Max Von Sydow in the thriller, the first of a mooted trilogy, but pictures of Mara as she’ll appear in the film have already appeared, after Rooney Mara Network (via Oh No They Didn’t) picked up a few paparazzi images of the actress.
The photos appear to come from Mara’s motorcycle training for the film, and the actress looks near-unrecognizable with the character’s trademark short black hair (although as yet without any piercings). She more than looks the part, perhaps even more so than Noomi Rapace, who took on the role in the Swedish version and, while giving excellent performances, always seemed a little too model-like for us. The picture is scheduled to arrive December 21st, 2011, enabling you to take the rape-and-murder loving members of your family to it just in time for Christmas.