Rooney Mara Cast In Survival Drama Lion

Rooney Mara has been cast alongside Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel in 'Lion'.

The Indian survival drama is being adapted from a screenplay by Luke Davies and is being directed by Garth Davis, with filming set to start in Australia in the coming weeks after recently wrapping in India.

Emile Sherman and Iain Canning - the co-founders of See-Saw, the film's production company - said: ''We are thrilled with the incredible work of our cast and crew in India and look forward to welcoming Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara, Dev Patel, David Wenham and Divian Ladwa to the Australian leg of the shoot.''

Before then, Rooney will star in Terrence Malick's 'Weightless' and will also appear opposite Cate Blanchett in Todd Haynes' 'Carol'.

The 29-year-old actress will star as Tiger Lily in Joe Wright's summer blockbuster 'Pan', which also features Hugh Jackman, Amanda Seyfried and model-turned-actress Cara Delevingne.

Cara, 22, recently said she's delighted to have secured the role in 'Pan' and other similarly big movies because acting is her ''passion''.

She said: ''Modeling I love, but acting is my passion. I think modeling kind of chose me; it's never what I expected. I always wanted to be an actress.''