Rooney Mara Joins Todd Haynes' Carol

Her filmography has been light in the two years since The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I wouldn't say Lisbeth Salander did any harm to Rooney Mara (Scoring the role against big-name candidates plucked her outta "Oh... HER!" status). I'm just not sure it set the world on fire either, besides positive critical notices and an Oscar nomination.

Then again, maybe it’s by choice. She can afford to be picky for awhile, and it's refreshing to not see her reduced to the "love interest" role in a studio blockbuster. Not yet - knock on wood. So far, her slate is one provocative film after another, and it appears that isn’t stopping anytime soon.

Screen Daily reports she will co-star opposite Cate Blanchett in Carol from director Todd Haynes. The period drama (based on the Patricia Highsmith-penned novella The Price of Salt) centers on the relationship between an ambitious twentysomething (Mara) and a woman stuck in a loveless, but financially secure, marriage (Blancett).