Rooney Mara Says She Nearly QUIT Acting After Starring In 2010's NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET Remake

Rooney Mara Says She Nearly QUIT Acting After Starring In 2010's NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET Remake

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo star Rooney Mara has reflected on the experience of making 2010' Nightmare on Elm Street remake, revealing that it very nearly led to her quitting acting altogether...

By JoshWilding - Jan 09, 2023 02:01 PM EST
Filed Under: Movies
Source: LaunchLeft

While Rooney Mara made a name for herself in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the prior year she starred in both The Social Network and the Nightmare on Elm Street remake. Those received wildly different responses, with fans and critics alike slamming Samuel Bayer's take on horror icon Freddy Krueger. 

During a recent interview on the LaunchLeft podcast, the actress looked back on the experience of making the movie and said it was actually David Fincher who restored her faith in acting after what sounds like a rough time working on the horror project.

"A few years before ['The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'], I had done a 'Nightmare on Elm Street' remake, which was not a good experience," Mara recalls. "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, 'Ok, I’m just not going to act anymore unless it’s something that I feel that way about.'" 

Of course, The Social Network was helmed by Fincher and it was working on that movie which ultimately led to Mara nabbing the lead role in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. However, the filmmaker actually had a fight on his hands when it came to casting her as Mark Zuckerberg's ex-girlfriend.

"He had to fight really hard for me to get the part because the studio didn’t want me for it," the actress says. "It was a definite real turning point in my life and my career."

As for their next collaboration, which earned Mara an Oscar nomination, she says: "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."

While Mara doesn't specify what was so bad about the time she spent working on Nightmare on Elm Street, it must have been pretty foul for her to reconsider her acting career. 

We're glad she was able to overcome those issues, anyway, and we're sure the experience of working with Fincher more than made up for her brief spell as part of the iconic horror franchise. 

ANACONDA Reboot: Jack Black & Paul Rudd Tease Horror-Comedy Ahead of Christmas 2025 Release
Related:

ANACONDA Reboot: Jack Black & Paul Rudd Tease Horror-Comedy Ahead of Christmas 2025 Release

EVIL DEAD RISE Director Lee Cronin To Helm THE MUMMY Reboot For Blumhouse And Atomic Monster
Recommended For You:

EVIL DEAD RISE Director Lee Cronin To Helm THE MUMMY Reboot For Blumhouse And Atomic Monster

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, Fear HQ is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.

This post was submitted by a user who has agreed to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. Fear HQ will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please CONTACT US for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. CLICK HERE to learn more about our copyright and trademark policies.

Note that Fear HQ, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

View Recorder