Hollywood star Rooney Mara, who worked with director Steven Soderbergh in his 2013 movie, Side Effects once explained that she felt offended after the director claimed that the actress didn’t actually want to be friends with him, but she had to do so in order to get a role in the movie.
Mara, who is well-known for her work in movies like, The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), and Nightmare Alley (2021), debunked the director’s claims stating that she likes hanging out with him. Their 2013 psychological thriller received mixed reviews from the audience but the project kicked off a lifelong friendship between the two.
Rooney Mara felt offended when Steven Soderbergh said that she didn’t want to be friends with him
In 2013, actress Rooney Mara appeared for an interview with The Guardian to promote her film, Side Effects, directed by Steven Soderbergh. During the interview, the actress acknowledged the director’s statement where he claimed that Mara “didn’t want to be friends” with him and “she just wanted to get on with the job.” The actress was quite offended by the statement and cleared things out,
“Yeah, I read that! I was like, ‘What the f**k is he talking about?’ In fact, the reason I am talking a bit funny right now is because I was hanging out with Steven last night – because we are friends! – and he gave me scalding French fries and I burned my mouth. He’s so dry and tongue in cheek, sometimes it’s hard to tell if he’s serious or joking.”
Initially, Blake Lively was hired for the role of Emily Taylor in the movie, however, due to some complications, Lively quit the project and Mara replaced her.
Rooney Mara gained popularity in the 2000s
What viewers saw in 2013’s Side Effects is just one of Mara’s remarkable acting performances. She bagged small roles in many TV shows in the mid-2000s then finally bagged a lead role in Tanner Hall (2009). The role that made her a well-known name in the industry was Erica Albright in David Fincher’s The Social Network.
Thanks to that opportunity, Mara bagged a role in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Since then, the actress has consistently proved her versatility as an actress in various genres and shows no signs of stopping any time soon.
