The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo star Noomi Rapace has told how she was almost turned down for the role because she looked "too cute".

The 30-year-old Swedish actress plays punky hacker Lisbeth Slander in the film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's hit novel, and worked hard to convince director Niels Arden Oplev she was right for the role.

Noomi revealed: "I think Niels the director saw a picture of me and some work I'd done before and he thought I was too feminine or too cute."

She added: "But when we met he changed his mind, I think he felt that I knew something about Lisbeth.

"I borrowed my husband's clothes and I explained to him that if you want me to play Lisbeth then I would really like to have the time and possibility to work and to prepare as much as I need before."

The actress went through a lot to transform herself.

She revealed: "It was pretty hard sometimes. I was preparing for seven months before the shooting. I wanted to be a bit more skinny, a bit more masculine, I wanted to get rid of my female body. So I was training martial arts like Taekwondo for four or five days a week with a crazy Serbian guy.

"I was on a certain diet because I wanted to lose some weight and I took motorcycle driving lessons and I cut my hair and pierced myself and so on, so it was a lot of preparation."

:: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is in cinemas from Friday March 12.