Rooney Mara Quotations

There's a certain way people are used to seeing nude women, and that's in a submissive, coy pose, not looking at the camera. And in this poster, I'm looking dead into the camera with no expression on my face. I think it freaks a lot of people out.

I've been trying to really live in the moment because I will never get this part of it back. As soon as the movie comes out, everyone will turn it into what they believe it is, so I've really been trying to appreciate every minute of now. Because I know what's coming

Just because the character listens to an iPod and wears black nail polish, she's goth. That was just a misused word

There were certainly things I was scared to do, but I never thought I wasn't up for the challenge

I looked on YouTube for sleep deprivation and there were videos of people experimenting with staying awake for a while. You saw all the different stages

I am very slow to warm. I've always been sort of a loner. I didn't play team sports. I am better one-on-one than in big groups

I can understand wanting to be invisible and mistrusting people and wanting to understand everything before you engage with the world

My sister started acting professionally when she was twelve, but I wanted to go to college first

If there is one thing about my family that I do identify with, it is that everyone is extremely hardworking. Also, the people whom I grew up with all did things they really loved. And I think that's an important lesson

I didn't even have pierced ears. They put four holes in each ear, and, weirdly, that hurt the most.

It never seemed that honorable to me, and I guess I was always afraid that I might fail.

I'm not at all funny. I can do dark comedy pretty well, but straight-up comedy, I don't know. I'm much darker. I've been like that since I was 3 years old

One of the things that make our version that much more heartbreaking is that even though I am playing a 24-year-old I look much younger. I look like a child.

What bothers me about the whole trust-fund thing is that it sort of presumes that everything is handed to you. And if there is one thing about my family that I do identify with, it is that everyone is extremely hardworking.

The more people know about you, the less they can project who you are supposed to be. It's unfortunate that you really only get one shot at that.

I am one of 40 grandchildren. What bothers me about the whole trust-fund thing is that it sort of presumes that everything is handed to you. And if there is one thing about my family that I do identify with, it is that everyone is extremely hardworking.

I grew up in a little cul-de-sac in the suburbs and went to public school. I went to Costco on the weekends

I always wanted to be an actor, but I was always fighting it. It never seemed that honorable to me, and I guess I was always afraid that I might fail.

As a 12-year-old, I think everything seems scary.

Now I literally roll out of bed and put on whatever is there. I have really enjoyed being a boy this last year.

There's only so many movies you can do. I start to get really self-loathing and sick of myself. And I think in order to act, you need to live a little bit to fill yourself with experience.

I'm sure you get energy from your audience; it's a high.

When you're an actor on set, people treat you like a giant baby. They don't let you do anything. Like, "Do you need any food? Do you need the bathroom?"

I was a pretty dark person to begin with. I have always been more drawn to darkness

If the character should be nude in the scene and it makes sense and I trust the person making the film then I don't see a problem with it. I certainly don't want to be involved in anything that is gratuitous, but I don't think the human body is something to be ashamed of. Every other person on the planet has the same parts as I do.

I don't know how to play the guitar, so having to be on stage in front of people doing something you don't really know how to do, it's terrifying.

I've made some really good friends from movies, but a lot of the time it's a very isolated experience that lives and dies during the production.

On stage, there are hundreds of people watching you. It's so much energy directed at you. I pick up energy really easily. Even if I go to the grocery store and no one is paying attention to me, I can pick up other people's moods and it's really intense.

The motorcycle was the thing I really didn't want to do... 'You're going to be raped, be naked...' but as soon as he was like, 'You're going to have to ride a motorcycle,' I was like, 'Oh, really?'

When I was at college, my nickname was Keds, because I wore Keds. I guess it wasn't really a nickname, because nicknames are usually given to you by people who are your friends and who know you.

Beaches and romantic comedies are not my thing. I'm a workaholic.

I think people like to exaggerate about the number of takes you do.

I pierced one nipple. Not both. Just one. She has it in the books and I wanted to get as many of the piercings as I could, and I spent so much time on this film naked, and I just had to be really comfortable with that right away . . . I'm gonna keep it for now. I don't want to have to repierce that should we do the other two films.

I need a lot of alone time as a human. And especially on a movie set when you're around people all day long. So it's actually kind of nice to go home to a hotel and be alone and unwind.

I've always had a respect for psychiatry as a profession.

I wouldnt call acting a job - its a pleasure. I love getting to play different characters, getting to play dress up, and getting paid for it.

I always want to be as quick and decisive as I can be.