The 26-year-old Rooney Mara is currently taking Hollywood by storm with her starring role as Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”.

Directed by David Fincher, with whom Mara previously worked on 2010’s “The Social Network”, ‘Dragon Tattoo’ is the English-language adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s Swedish-language novel of the same name. It centres around Mara’s character, Lisbeth Salander, and Daniel Craig’s character, Mikael Blomkvist, and has already been nominated for Best Picture by the Producers Guild of America.

However, the true success story in this film lies with Rooney Mara, who has so far received Golden Globe and National Board of Review nominations for her performance; and is already experiencing early Oscar buzz. This film is by no means Mara’s introduction into the entertainment industry – she has made numerous television guest appearances in recent years, ranging from an assault victim “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” to a patient in two episodes of “ER”.

Yet with her latest film, Rooney Mara has entered into a new level of celebrity. Not only has she received numerous accolades and been cast alongside Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale and Cate Blanchette in the upcoming drama “Lawless;” but she has also experienced her first dose of media backlash.

In a recent interview with Allure, Mara referred to her “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” appearance as:

“[S]o awful. So stupid. People are obsessed with that show. I don’t get it. It’s ridiculous … they sodomized [my character]. I mean, I’ve been sodomized since the beginning of my career. I should have known then it would come full circle.”

Mara was later forced to release a statement clarifying her words, explaining to The Huffington Post that:

“That was my first job. It couldn’t have been more exciting for me. It’s an experience I hold very dear to my heart. People take things out of context, and that’s just not the case. I was more nervous doing that job than I was doing this job … I know that ‘Law & Order’ makes their episodes out of real things that are happening in the city, so to me, by “ridiculous” I meant that humanity is ridiculous. People are awful to one another; and to me, I find it ridiculous.”

Rooney Mara is by no means the first young actress to insist that she was misquoted in an interview, but it does show that her ‘celebrity’ status has reached the point where the public are paying attention to what she does, says, wears and chooses as her next project.

Regarding her next project, aside from the completion of “Lawless,” Mara does not have anything officially greenlit into production; however, she is contracted to reprise her role as Lisbeth Salander in the potential second and third films in Sony’s series.

What remains to be seen for the time being is how Rooney Mara fares in awards season. The nominations for the 84th Academy Awards are set to be announced on January 24th, and plenty of eyes are sure to be on Mara as she competes to make it into the Academy’s final shortlist for Best Actress. For Rooney Mara, 2012 could soon become the year for ‘The Girl with the Infinite Opportunities’.

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/DragonTattoo

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The 5th Edition of the Lisbon and Estoril Film Festival has certainly ended on a high note. LEFF’11 had all the main ingredients to become its best edition to date (as was predicted last week) but only time could tell if this was truly going to be an edition to remember. The programme promised a week long of high-quality events and it surely delivered.

It is one of the youngest Film Festivals in Europe but other veterans should definitely learn a thing or two from LEFF. Paulo Branco’s Lisbon and Estoril Film Festival proved worthy of the buzz surrounding it in international media outlets.

Every screening began punctually (apart from minor technical glitches) and the price of the admission tickets was very cheap, considering they allowed access to premieres and masterclasses with actors, directors, and producers. Most of the screenings were presented by one of the actors in the film, a movie critic or producer and after it a small discussion regarding the film was held.

According to LEFF’s director Branco, this might have possibly been the best edition yet, and who are we to doubt his words? In a recent interview, Branco also admitted that upcoming editions should be held in both Lisbon and Estoril, in a partnership with Lisbon’s City Hall.

Even though most of the movies shown are not what one would expect to see in a regular movie theater, most of the screenings were sold out and were incredibly entertaining.

All of the movies were divided in categories: the Official Selection, Retrospective, Tribute, Cinemart (including features by Matthew Barney and Yasmina Reza), In Memoriam, Rare Filmmakers, Film Heritage Preservation (with the cooperation of the Martin Scorcese and the World Cinema Foundation), Cinema and History, and several Special Screenings of feature films and television series.

The big winner of the Festival was Twilight Portrait, by Angelina Nikonova, as it took home the award for Best Feature. Twilight Portrait tells the story of a social worker who decides to take on her dramatic past and it is Nikonova’s debut as a film director. Cédric Kahn’s Une Vie Meilleure won the Special Jury Award – João Bénard da Costa, as well as the Cineuropa Award.

Other special mentions include Here I am, by Bálint Szimler and Aman (Safe and Sound) by Ali Jaberansari. LEFF ended on a winning streak as Almodóvar’s latest (The Skin I Live In) was shown to an eager audience in Lisbon, with the presence of Jan Cornet and Marisa Paredes. In Estoril, Melancholia by Lars Von Trier closed the Festival but hopefully LEFF’s next edition will come soon enough.  

cinemafestival / Shutterstock.com

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