Cannes-winning actress Rooney Mara, who has been away from the screen for a while and returns to the big screen with author-director Sarah Polley's acclaimed drama Woman Talking, starring Claire Foy and Jessie Buckley. Mara said she considered ending her acting career after her unpleasant experience on the set of the 2010's Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
Mara, who worked with David Fincher on The Girl with Dragon Tattoo, said the director saved her career. Mara explained on the LaunchLeft podcast:
''I had done a ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ remake, which was not a good experience. I have to be careful with what I say and how I talk about it. It wasn’t the best experience making it and I kind of got to this place, that I still live in, that I don’t want to act unless I’m doing stuff that I feel like I have to do. So after making that film, I kind of decided, ‘Okay, I’m just not going to act anymore unless it’s something that I feel that way about.''
'It Was a Definite Real Turning Point in My Life and My Career'
After this bad experience, David Fincher gave her a small chance in The Social Network, starring Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and that changed the course of the Oscar-nominated actress' life and career.
''I got an audition for ‘The Social Network’ which was a small part but it was an amazing scene and then I didn’t work again from that until I think 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'. David didn’t want to audition me for it because he didn’t think I was right for it based on what I did in ‘The Social Network’ and I kind of insisted they put me on tape anyway so I did and then he had to fight really hard for me to get the part because the studio didn’t want me for it. It was a definite real turning point in my life and my career.''
Gone Girl and Fight Club director David Fincher's inclusion of Mara as a co-lead in the psychological thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, starring Daniel Craig, set a new standard for the actress.
''David really took me under his wing. He became my mentor in a lot of ways. He took such great care to make sure that I knew that I had a voice and that my opinion meant something. He constantly was empowering me, which I think really affected the rest of my choices thereafter''
Women Talking, starring Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, and three-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand released in select theaters.