Rooney Mara is about one week away from becoming one of the biggest actresses on the planet. As both Katey and I noted in our reviews of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, her performance has Lisbeth Salander is flawless and powerful, as she controls every scene she is in. It's the work of a very mature artist and we can expect that she will have a long and successful career following the movie's release. That career, however, won't include a film titled Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes.
Though Mara's been attached to the project since February, Variety has learned that Kaya Scodelario has taken the part and will now play the lead in the project. The trade doesn't say why Mara left the film. The film is being written and directed by Francesca Gregorini and is about a young girl who is hired by her neighbor - who looks exactly like the girl's deceased mother - to babysit a child. The twist is that the child is actually just a life-like doll, but the girl goes along with the story and doesn't shatter the neighbor's delusion. The film would have been the second time Mara worked with Gregorini, as the filmmaker helmed the 2009 film Tanner Hall. Scodelario is best known for playing Effy in the hit UK series Skins (not to be confused with the MTV version that cause controversy earlier this year). She also played Peshet in 2010's Clash of the Titans.
While it's probably something to do with scheduling issues, I am left curious about why Mara has left the project. Her upcoming schedule isn't that full - consisting of only Terence Malick's Lawless - so maybe she's just opening her schedule for potential new movies. Or, you know, The Girl Who Played With Fire.
