Video:Rooney Mara A Nightmare on Elm Street Interview

Transcript:Rooney Mara A Nightmare on Elm Street Interview

Rooney Mara: "You know, it's super dark so if they want something dark and scary and disturbing, then they should definitely come see the film."

Did they put you through hell physically, as it looks in the trailers?

Rooney Mara: "I was, yes."

Tell me about handling all that. How do you do it?

Rooney Mara: "I don't really know how I did it. You just sort of do. There's something that happens when you're on a movie set where the rest of the world disappears and you just do it. It was, it was a very difficult shoot but I had a lot of support and it was good."

What was the scene where you were freaked out even though you knew it wasn't real?

Rooney Mara: "There's two of those. There's one scene where I'm in my bedroom with Jackie [Earle Haley] and I'm sort of tied down to the bed, and that was just a very creepy, disturbing scene so that for sure felt very real and disturbing."

Besides Freddy Krueger, your character is almost as iconic as that. Is that a little extra weight, knowing that everybody knows that original character?

Rooney Mara: "Totally. I mean, people are very protective of Nancy and Heather Langenkamp's performance, and I totally respect that. But you know our movie is quite a bit different and so we had to make the character different, and that's what we did. I think people will like it."

How is your Nancy different from hers?

Rooney Mara: "I think the original Nancy was much more of a girl-next-door and she's sort of everybody's friend and relatable. And our Nancy, because there's so much backstory and because it's quite a bit darker, our Nancy is darker. She's trying to figure out who she is and she has a hard time connecting with people. Just in that sense, she's quite different."

If she has a hard time connecting to people, was she an easy character for you to get into?

Rooney Mara: "Yes, but I'm definitely a little shy so that part of it was easy. It was an interesting character to get into, and definitely a challenging one, but it was very rewarding."

Can you remember the first time on set when you actually saw Jackie in that makeup and what your reaction was?

Rooney Mara: "Yes, I can. There was a lot of anticipation because Sam [Bayer, the director] and the producers didn't want us to see Jackie until we had to be in the scene with him. So we were always trying to sneak a peek and always wondering, and he used to wear this black cloak and it was super intimidating. We'd always see the black cloak but we couldn't see what he looked like under there. So the first time I saw him when he took the black cloak off I was just like shaking. I was so nervous and the makeup is so real. He really does look like a burn victim so I felt so bad for him. It was scary. It was definitely scary." More on A Nightmare on Elm Street: