Carey Mulligan Recalls Failed “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Audition: 'I Definitely Wore a Nose Ring'

The star reflected on attempting to join the cast of the film in a new interview with Variety

Carey Mulligan went "all in" while attempting to secure the lead role in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

The Oscar nominee, 38, opened up to Variety in a new interview alongside her Shame costar Michael Fassbender about her experience auditioning for the part of Lisbeth Salander for the hit 2011 thriller, revealing that she changed her appearance to be more in line with the film's aesthetic.

"I think I even, like, almost dyed my hair black or something," Mulligan noted, adding, "I definitely wore a nose ring."

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She further explained: "And I got my friend who's a makeup artist to give me, like," gesturing with her hands over her face, to which Fassbender replied, "Like a punk sort of look."

"I went all in," Mulligan said, "I did a Bradley [Cooper, her Maestro costar and director], I went all in." The actress even noted that she "chain-smoked" at the audition for further dramatic effect.

"It was very nice, but I obviously didn't get the job," she concluded.

Rooney Mara would go on to be cast in the challenging role. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in 2012 for her performance.

In 2012, Mulligan spoke about how she auditioned three times in an attempt to join the film's cast, two of which were with director David Fincher.

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"The first audition I did, I don’t think I was sort of in his mind for it. So the first audition I did for the casting director without him [Fincher]. And then the second was with him and the third one was with him. He is very specific. He tells you exactly what he wants you to do. He’s very kind. I was intimidated, but he was very…He’s very direct. I like people who are direct," she said, per IndieWire.

Mulligan added at the time, "I just sort of went all out for it because I did feel a little bit stuck in sort of being young looking or playing these parts. And I’d done so much costume drama and all these things kept on presenting themselves as opportunities and I just thought, 'If I could do that… ha!' "

Reflecting on why she didn't get the role, she said at the time: "But he was just very, yeah, very specific, very direct, very honest and quite brief – with me, at least. His reputation of course is that he takes, like, 45 takes, so him being brief with me was probably an indication that I wasn’t going to get the job. But that’s okay.”

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