By now, Rooney Mara's extreme makeover for her role in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is old news—and when the actress sat down with Josh Horowitz to discuss the film, the only remaining evidence of her on-screen look was her still dark-dyed hair and a structured blazer that looked like something Lisbeth might wear to a corporate luncheon. (In a good way!) But while the Mohawk and piercings have been left on set, Rooney admitted that her gothic alter-ego wasn't easy to shed—not during filming, and not now, either.
"It's impossible to leave it behind when it's attached to your head, and your body, you know?" she said, in response to a question about what it was like to take Lisbeth home at the end of the day. Although, she added, she didn't exactly have time to dwell on it:
"When you work 16 hours a day, there isn't really time to do anything else but go home and go to sleep."
But now, even without the extreme physical vestiges of her character on display, Rooney said that Lisbeth will always be with her in less-obvious ways.
"That's my favorite thing about the job, is that your education never really stops," she explained. "I feel like I went to school: I had motorcycle class from 9 to 11, and then I went to dialect class, and then I had skateboarding, and then I had computer training. And then I had kickboxing! I just feel like I learned so much."
So if you're looking for a Lisbeth legacy in Rooney's life, it's probably this: "I got to acquire all these skills that I never really wanted or needed. But now I have them!"
And if you see Rooney Mara skateboarding into a motorcycle dealership whilst simultaneously kickboxing, all while holding a computer? Well, now you know why!
Do you think Rooney's career will be forever changed by her "GWTDT" experience?
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