By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Rooney Mara, great-granddaughter of New York Giants founder Tim Mara, has landed the title role in the much anticipated U.S. film adaptation of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," Sony Pictures Entertainment announced Monday.
Mara beat out a swath of Hollywood A-listers, including Scarlett Johanson, Natalie Portman and Ellen Page, for the coveted part of Lisbeth Salander, a tattooed vigilante who suffers from autism, according to widely publicized reports.
Though the descendant of football royalty has not yet charged into mainstream consciousness, she recently wrapped filming with "Dragon Tattoo" director David Fincher for the upcoming Facebook drama "The Social Network."
Daniel Craig will also star in the film version of Stieg Larsson's New York Times Bestselling novel, which continues to be read throughout the New York City subway system, the studio said.
Mara, who was raised in Westchester and attended NYU, according to a December 2009 interview, previously appeared in last spring's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and last year's Michael Cera comedy "Youth in Revolt."
Her sister, Kate Mara, who acted in "Brokeback Mountain" and "Iron Man 2," had been the shining starlet of the Mara family, but all that is bound to change once "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," the first in the bestselling Millennium Trilogy, hits theaters.
The series has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, including 10 million in the U.S. alone, or the equivalent of one book per second, according to Sony.
