Los Angeles, Jan 10 (IANS): Actress Rooney Mara almost quit acting after filming the 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' reboot as she didn't have "the best experience" while filming the 2010 remake of Wes Craven's classic 1984 horror movie.

She said that she came close to walking away from Hollywood for good unless she found a project she really cared about, reports aceshowbiz.com.

"A few years before (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), I had done (A Nightmare on Elm Street) remake, which was not a good experience," she explained when speaking on the LaunchLeft podcast.

"(I have to) be careful with what I say and how I talk about it. It wasn't the best experience making it."

"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. After making that film, I kind of decided, 'OK, I'm just not going to act anymore unless it's something that I feel that way about'."

After finishing work on the horror remake, she landed a part in David Fincher's Facebook drama 'The Social Network' which took her career to a whole new level as the director later hired her to star in his next later project 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.'

She said of the role that "David didn't want to audition me for it (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) because he didn't think I was right for it based on what I did in 'The Social Network' and I kind of insisted they put me on tape anyway so I did ... Then he had to fight really hard for me to get the part because the studio didn't want me for it. It was a definite real turning point in my life and my career."

The role in the 2011 film earned Rooney an Academy Award for Best Actress and her career took off.