Rooney Mara says appearing in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has made her less feminine. The 26-year-old actress admits aspects of playing the rebellious Lisbeth Salander in the new movie stayed with her and has changed her style.

"Before I got the part I was definitely more feminine and girlie. I wore a lot of pale shades and I haven't really rediscovered that yet. I've kept with the black and dark colors."

In the movie, Rooney's psychologically-damaged character exacts revenge on her rapist, but despite the graphic nature of some of her scenes, the actress insists they didn't affect her because of the physical transformation she underwent for the role: "Because Lisbeth looked so different to me with the tattoos and piercings, it just never really felt like me so I didn't feel strange or embarrassed."

As part of her research, Rooney spent two months in Sweden - where the story is set - before the filming began and found the experience very helpful: "It was incredibly helpful because you can't really understand the characters until you've spent part of a winter there. For me, the cold and the dark were really difficult to overcome."