Rooney Mara learned skateboarding for Dragon Tattoo role

Rooney Mara took up skateboarding to prepare for her role in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - so she could perfect her "teenage boy walk".

The actress plays computer hacker Lisbeth Salander in the upcoming Hollywood adaptation of Stieg Larsson's hit Millennium trilogy novels.

Mara saw off competition from Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson to land the coveted part, and admits she spent an entire year trying to get into character before she was cast.

She tells Variety.com, "I went into training. I did skateboarding to sort of get the teenage boy walk and a lot of kick boxing. I started the dialect training right away and did some computer training."

Mara also flew to Stockholm, Sweden, where the books are set, adding, "(The location) is such an important part of the story."