‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ has a new star!

Actress Rooney Mara has been officially casted to play Lisbeth Salander, the lead in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first of three Sony Pictures films based on the late Swedish writer Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy book series.

If you are unfamiliar with the young thesp, join the club. We did some research and found out she is a New Yorker who belongs to the Mara family, owners of the New York Giants football team. She has been in a few movies, nothing worth boasting about – Dare, The Winning Season and Tanner Hall in 2009. In 2010, she appeared in Youth in Revolt and starred in A Nightmare on Elm Street, a remake of the 1984 horror film. I saw ‘Revolt’ and the ‘Nightmare’ and barely remember her.

This book to film franchise is the hottest thing in Hollywood right now. David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network) is set to direct and Daniel Craig and Robin Wright are set to star along with Mara.

Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Ellen Page, Harry Potter’s Emma Watson and Alice in Wonderland’s Mia Wasikowska were rumored for the role, I imagined they auditioned for the part too, but Mara must’ve blown the lids off the producers to get this highly sought after gig.

Mara’s contract also includes an option to cast her in two further films, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

For those of you who have not yet seen the original Swedish film version, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is a gripping, thrilling yet sexually disturbing piece of work that will discompose more than a few viewers. Ultimately, its more than 2 hour duration is a satisfying product worth your time and investment.

Mr. Fincher reportedly plans to start shooting The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in Sweden next month, though one assumes the Scandinavian country will be doubling for a part of North America. He will also be in charge for the two sequels, while Craig has also signed on for three films. The first movie is due to hit cinemas on December 21, 2011.

Larsson died in 2004, and his books were only published posthumously. Like his character, Blomkvist, he was the editor of a left-leaning magazine with a talent for documenting and exposing Swedish extreme right and racist organisations. His novels have sold more than 27m copies around the world, and he recently became the first writer to have sold one million e-books on Amazon.com.

Here is Rooney Mara in a clip of her most recent film, the remake of ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street. Do you think she can pull off playing the tough and complex hacker played so well by her Swedish counterpart Noomi Rapace? Check out the clip and let us know what you think in the comments section below.