Rooney Mara Covers 'Allure' January 2012

Rooney Mara covers Allure January 2012. Inside the magazine, the 26-year-old actress dishes on getting her right nipple pierced for the role in 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo', shaving her head, her sister, actress Kate Mara, football, and many more.

Rooney Mara covers the January 2012 issue of Allure. In the accompanying interview with the magazine, the 'Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' actress dishes on getting her right nipple pierced for the role, shaving her head, her sister, actress Kate Mara, football, and many more.

Speaking about her nipple piercing experience, Rooney explains that, "It was actually not that painful. Everyone thinks that would be the most painful." However, the 26-year-old actress told 'Allure' that there was no question of that piercing being faked. "I'm naked quite a lot in the movie," she says.

"And I thought, She has it in the book, and she should have it [in the movie]. Because of all the tattoos and the makeup and the piercings, and the physical transformations my body has to go through, it would always feel sort of like I was in costume, even if I was naked. It just felt like a good one to get — a necessary one to get." And since there might be two sequels, Mara admits that, "It's not something I want to ever get repierced."
The beautiful actress also reveals some of her favorite fashion buys. "I used to wear a lot of girly, frilly things. Now I buy things that are more comfortable, and more utilitarian, and sort of boyish," Rooney told the magazine.

Rooney plays Lisbeth Salander in 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'. Speaking about her transformation for this role, the actress told the magazine that, "I had parts of my head shaved. I was in that character for over a year. If you're going to do it, you have to do it." Still, she confesses that it wasn't hard for her to transform. "People always ask, 'Were you crying when they cut your hair?' And it didn't freak me out at all. I was really happy to do it," she says.

As for getting this part, Mara believes that this was possible due to her lack of fame. "I don't think [director] David [Fincher]'s intention was ever to hire someone well-known," she says. "To make this movie, he needed someone that people were unfamiliar with because it's the only way they would really believe this character. She's such a mystery. You couldn't hire someone that people already have a relationship with."

On her sister, actress Kate Mara, Rooney says that, "We’re so different that there’s never been a competitiveness between us in work. She is probably much more likable than I am. She’s really outgoing and fun. I’m definitely more of the odd sister."

In fact, the two sisters starred in 2006’s 'We Are Marshall', a drama about the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed 37 football players on the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team as well as five coaches, two athletic trainers, the athletic director, 25 boosters and a crew of five.
The Rooney family owns the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Maras owns the New York Giants. However, the actress confesses that, "I didn’t love football growing up, and I’m not obsessed with it. My whole family is really into it. But I do really like it, and of course I appreciate it because of my family — it’s a huge part of my heritage."

Catch the rest of Rooney Mara's interview in the January 2012 issue of ALLURE.