Rooney Mara didn't "bond" with Daniel Craig on the set of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as they are both "quite aloof and guarded".

The actress stars as troubled computer hacker Lisbeth Salander in the movie. Rooney has a complicated on-screen relationship with Daniel's character Mikael Blomkvist. The pair embark on a search for a woman who has been missing for forty years.

Rooney says their awkward on-screen relationship resonated off-screen too.

"I think me and Daniel are both quite aloof and guarded people, so we didn't bond that much. We didn't have that much to shoot together. But, we did spend quite a lot of time rehearsing, just reading through the script and trying to make things work," she explained to Collider at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF).

"We were lucky, in that we started off shooting in Stockholm. For the first few months, everything we were shooting was pretty insignificant. It was coming in and out of doors. So, we had a lot of time to get comfortable with each other before we went to L.A. and did the meat of the movie."

Rooney loved teaming up with director David Fincher. The star says the filmmaker is a joy to work for.

"Everything about working with David is amazing. I wouldn't trade anything about him. I love working with him," she gushed.

Rooney has discussed the type of characters she likes to play. The star finds it far easier to portray a character entirely different to her own personality.

"I don't think I really think about it, in terms of whether the character is different from myself. For myself, it probably is easier to play a character who is much different, with an accent and who looks different and walks different," she said.

"I find that much more enjoyable. But, at the same time, I felt like [Lisbeth] Salander was very familiar to me. We do have a lot in common. I think a little bit of both is good."