Few would think that Rooney Mara, whose acting career has launched into the stratosphere after appearing in The Social Network and starring as the titular character in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (which she received an Oscar nomination for), would still care about what reviewers thought of her performances. In an interview for Interview magazine conducted by her Side Effects director Steven Soderbergh, Mara explains why she still reads critical reviews about her performances.
She explains, “I tend to not put too much credence in what other people think, but then, of course, you are curious as to what other people think and you want people to respect you. So, I don’t know. At the end of the day, I am so much more critical of myself than anyone else could be, and I know when something I’ve done is really bad or kind of good. I guess sometimes you read a review to see if anyone else picked up on something bad that you already picked up on yourself. So, generally, if I do read them, I do it when I am feeling really bad about myself, and I find the meanest things that people have said so I can validate my own feelings. I don’t read them to fluff myself up. In fact, rarely do you believe it when someone says something nice.”
In other words, don’t expect Mara to throw a party over the great reviews Side Effects has received.
She looks half dead.