Rooney Mara cast in new Steven Soderbergh thriller

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Rooney Mara has been cast in Steven Soderbergh's new project Side Effects.

In her first lead role since starring as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Mara joins a cast that includes Jude Law, Channing Tatum and Catherine Zeta-Jones, according to Deadline.

In a role vacated by Blake Lively, Mara will play Emily Hawkins, a sexy yet unsettled young woman who takes large quantities of prescription drugs to deal with anxiety and depression over the imminent release of her husband from prison. Her husband has been in prison for three years, and after taking a new medication, she unknowingly murders him and stands trial for murder.

The script has been written by Scott Z Burns, and Open Road will be the US distributor.

Since her breakout performance in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Mara has been courted for several major roles, including the female lead in the Kathryn Bigelow film about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, but that film clashed with her promotional schedule on Dragon Tattoo.

You can watch the trailer below.

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Video: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Trailer 2