Rooney Mara As “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” W Magazine Feb. 2011

The February issue of W Magazine arrives on newsstands Jan. 25 and the mag’s landed the first photos of socialite-turned-actress Rooney Mara in character as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Last year, the star of The Social Network edged out competition from Twilighter Kristen Stewart and Oscar nominees Carey Mulligan and Natalie Portman for lead role in David Fincher’s big screen adaptation of Steig Larsson’s bestselling novel of the same name.

Mara, 25, will play Lisbeth Salander, a fearless genius tormented by a terrible childhood, in the crime thriller based on the first book in Larsson’s bestselling series. James Bond star Daniel Craig has been cast as journalist Mikael Blomkvist, who teams up with Salander to delve into a string of decades-old murders.

The actress has reportedly dyed her hair jet black and pierced her nipples and lips to play the role of computer hacker. Mara says she locked herself in a room for “a week and read all three books, and decided I really wanted to be Lisbeth, but I thought I had no shot at it….They shot me in the subway in L.A. in full hair and makeup with a motorcycle. Every day they had a new request. On a Monday morning, David called me in, and I said, ‘What do you want me to do to my hair now? I was at the end of my rope. He told me I had the part. I hadn’t even read the script yet.”