Rooney Mara hunting for theater project

Actress Rooney Mara is planning to overcome stage fright by tackling a role in a play.

The Carol star has previously admitted she dreams of appearing onstage, but has put off signing up for a show due to crippling nerves.

However, Rooney has now declared she is looking at scripts as she hunts for the perfect role so she can finally fulfill her ambition to conquer the world of theater.

"I'm reading a bunch of different plays at the moment and one of them would be in London, and I would love to do that at some point," she tells the London Evening Standard newspaper. "No I haven't (done much stage work). I've never really done it and I'm terrified of it, but it's something I really want to do."

She previously opened up about her problems with stage fright during a chat with Interview magazine, explaining, "I would like to do theater, but I'm terrified. I have such bad stage fright. I hate being on display like that. On stage, there are hundreds of people watching you. I would not be able to perform on stage... but I'm sure it's exhilarating."

During the interview, Rooney goes on to talk about her desire to keep her private life out of the spotlight and her dislike of social media.

"I think people that I'm close to think that I've always been a secretive person," she adds. "I don't think you can get someone just by looking at a picture of them and getting a sound-bite. I don't want to be reduced to that... Part of being an actor is having the ability to let an audience project what they want onto you. It's harder to do when you know who they are dating, or those little things about them that have little bearing on what we do."

Rooney declares of sites such as Twitter.com, "I don't use social media. I'm always in the dark ages and sometimes I feel like I'm the last to know everything. But it's just not for me. People blurt out anything that they think, especially with social media... I think people should spend a lot more time thinking before they speak."