Entertainment Movies Rooney Mara Says She Became More Selective About Roles After 'Elm Street' Reboot: 'Not a Good Experience' "I kind of got to this place, that I still live in, that I don’t want to act unless I’m doing stuff that I feel like I have to do," the actress said By Jen Juneau Jen Juneau Jen Juneau is a News and Movies Staff Writer at PEOPLE. She started at the brand in 2016 and has more than 15 years' professional writing experience. People Editorial Guidelines Published on January 9, 2023 12:14PM EST Rooney Mara is selective about her projects partly due to an experience she had early on in her acting career. Speaking with fiancé Joaquin Phoenix's sister Rain Phoenix for the latter's LaunchLeft podcast last week, the 37-year-old actress revealed she had "not a great experience" doing 2010's Nightmare on Elm Street remake, in which she played protagonist/final girl Nancy Holbrook. "A few years before [The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo], I'd done a Nightmare on Elm Street remake, which was not a great experience, making it," said Mara. "I have to be careful with what I say and how I talk about it, but it wasn't the best experience, making it." "And I kind of got to this place, that I still live in, of I don't want to act unless I'm doing stuff that I feel like I have to do," the actress added. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories. Rooney Mara (L) in A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010). Moviestore/Shutterstock Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix to Play 1930s Couple in Movie About "Jealousy, Betrayal and Murder" After she made the horror flick — a reboot of Wes Craven's 1984 film of the same name — Mara said she "kind of decided, 'Okay, well, I'm just not going to act anymore unless it's something that I feel that way about.' " Soon, she got an audition for The Social Network, for "a small part, but it was an amazing scene." "And then I didn't work again from that until, I think, Dragon Tattoo," Mara said. Mara made her film debut in another horror film, 2005's Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, and would go on to appear in mostly drama films, from Her (also starring Joaquin, 48) to Carol (2015) and Nightmare Alley (2021). She has been nominated for Oscars twice: for her performances in both The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) and Carol. She most recently appeared in Women Talking. Rooney Mara. TOMMASO BODDI/AFP via Getty Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley Star in Powerful Trailer for Sarah Polley's "Women Talking" In October, FilmNation announced that Mara and Joaquin, who made their red-carpet debut as a couple at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, will star in lead roles in director Pawel Pawlikowski's next movie. The movie currently uses the working title The Island, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. The film is described as a thriller inspired by real events and follows a couple in the 1930s who aim to live on a remote island until they grow into "a tabloid newspaper sensation," which leads to the arrival of a "a self-styled countess" who plots to build a hotel on the island, according to the outlets. "Psychological warfare ensues between the countess and the American couple as sexual infidelity, betrayal and eventually murder takes place among the island interlopers," reads a synopsis for the film, per THR. "Pawel Pawlikowski is one of the world's greatest filmmakers working today," FilmNation CEO Glen Basner told THR. "Pawel bringing this story of jealousy, betrayal and murder in a Garden of Eden is exactly what we all need to drive audiences back to the cinema."