Having already snagged a role once reserved for Blake Lively, Variety tells us Rooney Mara is on the cusp of taking a spot Carey Mulligan previously had for Spike Jonze‘s next outing. Once thought to be a collaboration between the director and Charlie Kaufman — making this a third pairing, after the genius Being John Malkovich and Adaptation — the untitled effort, written by Jonze himself, is about “a man who falls in love with the voice of a computer.”

Joaquin Phoenix has been locked into that leading role for more than nine months, while the once-circling Amy Adams and Samantha Morton have also been confirmed with this new report. And, although everything else is just one big question mark, Mara‘s casting would serve as “the final element [Jonze] needs to get the pic up and running”; we’re at least bound to get a modicum more after she sashays her way in.

Scheduling-wise, the film will come after Mara finishes working with Steven Soderbergh on The Bitter Pill, but before shooting gets underway on Terrence Malick‘s Lawless (if it’s still called that). That’s a lineup bound to make any young actor shake their fist in relative jealousy, but, being one of the finest things about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I’m anticipating what she can do with all these roles. Working with Jonze is, overall, just another gem to that terrific schedule.

Are you happy to see Mara climb aboard, or would you rather have seen Carey Mulligan in this role?