Original Dragon Tattoo Girl Talks About Rooney Mara Filling Her Shoes

Noomi Rapace talks to us about the Social Network actress taking on the much-coveted role

It's nice to know that Noomi Rapace doesn't think she's the only woman who can play Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

While Rapace starred as the badass computer hacker in the Swedish flick…

Social Network star Rooney Mara has the task of bringing her to life in the U.S. adaptation of the bestselling crime novel. "I don't think I know more about Lisbeth than she does," Rapace told me earlier this week at the Hollywood Awards. "She has to find her Lisbeth inside of her own self, make her own personal Lisbeth."

Mara has some big shoes black leather boots to fill. As E! News first reported, Mara has is looking drastically different these days because of her work playing Lisbeth. Rapace did the same. "I got seven piercings," she said. "I lost weight. I went for kickboxing and Thai boxing four days a week for seven months."

Rapace is currently in London shooting the Sherlock Holmes opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. It may be her first English-language film, but don't be surprised if she sometimes speaks in something other than her own flawless English for her role: "I'm learning to speak some Romani."

Definitely beats another body piercing.