Rooney Mara will be Native American Princess Tiger Lilly in WB's PAN; People Mad.

Just earlier this week Variety got the drop that Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) was cast in WB's upcoming take on the classic J.M. Barrie novels that spawned the wildly popular film Peter Pan  from Disney in 1953.

Mara will play Tiger Lilly, Native American princess on the island of Neverland, who is often depicted as a love interest to Peter Pan, long before Wendy Darling and the jealous Tinker Bell are in his life.

The film will be a new take on the classic story. It is set during World War II and follows an orphan named Peter who is kidnapped by pirates and brought to Neverland, where he discovers he’s destined to save the land from the pirate Blackbeard.

The world being created is multi-racial/international – and a very different character than previously imagined.

The studio took on an exhaustive search in finding the right girl to play Lily looking at other actresses such as Lupita Nyonog’o and “Blue is the Warmest Color” thesp Adele Exarchopoulos before going out to Mara for the role.

Obviously this is another "Johnny Depp as Tonto"-tier debate on some parts of the internet already; but as Variety noted this is a multi-racial and international depiction of Neverland.

It's also worth noting that Tiger Lilly, daughter of Chief Big Little Panther, is in-fact NOT a real Native American, and does not actually belong to a REAL LIFE Native American Tribe, and that the original "Peter Pan" stories take place on a fantasy magic island with fairies, mermaids, pirates, alligators with clocks in their stomachs, and eternally young children.

Of course, like Depp as Tonto in Disney's The Lone Ranger, the character of Tonto was never meant to potray all Comanche peoples, and Tonto was disowned by his own Comanche tribe; but given definite reason and purpose for his behavior, just as i'm sure Mara wasn't cast to potray all Native Americans that will ever live and have lived. 

PAN also stars Garett Hedlund as a young Captain Hook, with Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard and open catsing is still open for a 10-12 year old for Peter.

The film, directed by Joe Wright, will hit theaters July 17, 2015.