Rooney Mara would much rather have audiences remember her Oscar-nominated performance in Todd Haynes’ Carol than her Razzie-nominated performance as Tiger Lily in Pan.
The moment Mara was cast as Tiger Lily, a character that was written as a Native American by Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie, there were complaints that Hollywood was “whitewashing” once again. The debate sparked again when the Joe Wright-directed film finally hit theaters in October 2015. Pan was a box office disaster for Warner Bros. and earned Mara a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actress.
“I really hate, hate, hate that I am on that side of the whitewashing conversation,” the 30-year-old Mara said in an interview with The Telegraph. “I really do. I don’t ever want to be on that side of it again. I can understand why people were upset and frustrated.”
While Mara said that she enjoyed working on the movie, she admitted that she thinks there should have been some diversity in the film. Her co-stars were Hugh Jackman, Garrett Hedlund and Levi Miller.
“Do I think all of the four main people in the film should have been white with blonde hair and blue eyes? No,” Mara said. “I think there should have been some diversity somewhere.”
Mara earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her performance in Carol. She was previously nominated for Best Actress for David Fincher’s 2011 version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.