Rooney Mara "Frightening" as Lisbeth Salander, Says Dragon Tattoo Costar

Find out what Christopher Plummer tells us about the actress's "terrifying" transformation. Plus, his new onscreen same-sex smooch revealed!

By Marc Malkin May 24, 2011 10:00 PMTags
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For all you of out there who have been worrying that director David Fincher's Hollywood adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo won't be true to the best-selling novel, I've got good news for you.

Fincher, one of the flick's costars just told me, hasn't strayed at all from author Stieg Larsson's words and story...

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"It's so loyal to the book that we didn't feel we were cheating or diverting from it at all," says 81-year-old acting legend Christopher Plummer, who plays retired businessman Henrik Vanger in the movie. "David is a marvelous director, and I think he truly has caught the atmosphere of the book."

Plummer, best known for playing Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music, has equal praise for Rooney Mara, who stars as Lisbeth Salander. "It's extraordinary," he said of the actress' unrecognizable physical transformation for the role. "And because she looks so young, it's very frightening. The innocence makes it even more terrifying. She is going to be the most wonderful Tattoo Girl."

The much anticipated film opens in December.

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I caught up with Plummer earlier today from New York, where he was promoting Beginners, his wonderfully sweet new film (in theaters June 3) about an artist (Ewan McGregor) whose father comes out as a gay man at age 75 shortly after his wife of 45 years dies.

The story is based on writer and director Mike Mills' real life. "I met Michael over drinks and he told me it was his father," said Plummer, 81. "Privately I thought, Oh my god, I am going to have to be like his dad. I'm not sure I want to go through with this. But then he assured me not to think a second about that and to be myself and do whatever I wanted. I said, 'Well then, I'm yours.'"

Plummer's much younger lover is played by fellow Dragon Tattoo actor Goran Visnjic. He laughed when I asked what it was like kissing the former ER star.

"We both being madly heterosexual went into fearsome discussions of, 'My god, it's happening tomorrow,'" Plummer said, laughing some more. "But then of course the minute the cameras roll, all fear goes out the window. I said to him after, 'You know, you're not bad.'"