Rooney Mara Talks Stage Fright, Working with Cate Blanchett & More

Rooney Mara looks so surreal on the cover of Interview magazine’s November 2015 issue.

Here’s what the 30-year-old Carol star had to share with the mag:

On stage fright: “On film, yes, the camera is watching you, but it’s so intimate. But it’s just you and the other actor and then there’s some people watching the monitor. 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. It’s so much energy directed at you. I pick up energy really easily. Even if I go to the grocery store and no one is paying attention to me, I can pick up other people’s moods and it’s really intense. I would not be able to perform on stage…but I’m sure it’s exhilarating.”

On being alone: “I like being alone. I need a lot of alone time as a human. And especially on a movie set when you’re around people all day long. So it’s actually kind of nice to go home to a hotel and be alone and unwind. But, of course, it gets lonely. It’s one of the weird parts about being an actor or a musician, we’re Gypsies. People ask me where I live, and I say L.A. or New York, but really I don’t spend much time in either of those places. I’m constantly either in hotels or somewhere else. But I like it. I might get tired of it at some point, but for now I like being a nomad.”

On working with Cate Blanchett: “I remember the first time I saw Cate, in Elizabeth [1998]. I think I was 13. I went to our little local theater with my mom, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, who is that woman?’ She’s just so incredible. It was pretty easy to pretend to be enamored by her. And she’s quick and witty and funny. She’s very confident. It’s amazing. Usually it’s not that great to meet your idols and work with them; it’s kind of a letdown. This definitely wasn’t. She’s much different than I had in my head, but kind of better, in a way. It was also obviously terrifying.”

For more from Rooney, visit InterviewMagazine.com. Also pictured inside: Rooney at the Chateau Marmont over the weekend in Los Angeles.