The suspense surrounding the release of the film adaption of the Swedish thriller The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has been almost as gripping as the novel itself: First we learned that David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network) would be directing the project, then it was rumored—and later confirmed—that the not-so-Swedish Daniel Craig would star as the male lead. Next came the unexpected twist of casting the doe-eyed Rooney Mara as the film’s darkly seditious title character. And then the plot thickened even more: Legendary face-painter Pat McGrath was enlisted to be the makeup expert responsible for transforming Mara into a stone-cold, kohl-eyed computer hacker. After receiving a personal e-mail from Fincher—one that almost went overlooked—McGrath flew out to the set in Sweden to design more than 20 looks to be used in the film trilogy. Here, she talks to Style.com about bleached eyebrows, letting “raw” skin show through on camera, and why a red smoky eye reads better on screen than black.

How did the journey with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo begin for you? Had you met David Fincher before?

No, I had never met him before. He sent me an e-mail out of the blue asking me to do the makeup for the film in July, when everybody is on holiday and everything shuts down. I don’t think I saw the e-mail for weeks. Once I realized it was David Fincher himself, I was very excited. I immediately said yes, and the next thing I knew, I was flying out to Sweden to meet David, his team, and Rooney.

You’ve worked in many different capacities at this point, but had you done movies before?

No, this was my first. I’ve always wanted to do movies, and to start with David is amazing. It was all completely new.

Did you have an idea for how you wanted to do the makeup right away?

The moment I heard that Rooney got the part, I thought, wow, the hair has to be short and we have to bleach the brows. As soon as I saw her bone structure and her skin, I knew that I could take her look in so many different directions.

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