A year ago, nobody knew what the heck a Rooney Mara was. I remember when her name first appeared as a contender to play Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I thought it was a typo and they meant her sister, Kate. Then she turned up in a blistering opening sequence in David Fincher's The Social Network, and it was like..."Oh yeah, she's definitely got the goods". Playing the enigmatic and popular Salander character has caused Mara's stock to skyrocket, so that films that were completed before she was known started to emerge. One of those was the teen drama, Tanner Hall, from director Francesca Gregorini.
Mara was set to rejoin Gregorini in her strange follow-up, Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes, but Variety reports that is no longer the case. Instead, Kaya Scodelario, best known for the controversial British drama, Skins, has taken on the lead role. No reason was given why Mara left, but I'm assuming it has to do with scheduling. The oddball story follows Emanuel, a 17-year old girl who babysits her neighbor's baby, which turns out to be a really lifelike doll. Why does she go along with it? Because the neighbor bears a striking resemblance to Emanuel's dead mother.
Sounds like a freakier version of Lars and the Real Girl, but I'm curious to see how this one turns out. Scodelario has been making pretty big moves into the world of film over the last few years, showing up in Duncan Jones' debut feature, Moon, and in a small role in Clash of the Titans. She's due to make her biggest plash yet as part of Andrea Arnold's adaptation of Wuthering Heights.
