Rooney Mara to Play Title Role in ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’

Rooney Mara reportedly is going to play the title role in the upcoming film 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.' (Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images)

Rooney Mara has been cast in the leading role of Hollywood’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The 24-year-old New Yorker will be acting alongside Daniel Craig, according to media reports on Tuesday.

David Fincher is directing the movie which follows the Swedish film adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s bestselling crime novels, the Millennium Trilogy.

In the Swedish fillm series, striking actress Noomi Rapace plays Lisbeth Sander, the dragon tattoo girl.

The first Hollywood film reportedly begins shooting in Sweden next month, and is due for release in 2011.

Rooney’s contract includes the option for the two sequels—The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Larsson’s books were published in Sweden in 2007 and have since been translated into more than 40 languages with over 40 million copies sold worldwide, Sony Pictures said.

Hollywood is hopeful an English version of the movies will be even more successful than their Swedish counterparts which have amassed more than $157 million at box offices worldwide, Reuters reported.

Larsson died in 2004 at the age of 50 before his books became a global hit.