Scarlett Johansson was too sexy to be cast in 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'.

The 'Avengers' actress auditioned for director David Fincher to play the role of Lisbeth Salander in his big screen version of the film, and the role eventually went to Rooney Mara because the filmmaker deemed her to not be enough like Steven Spielberg alien E.T.

He told US Vogue: "Look, we saw some amazing people. Scarlett Johansson was great. It was a great audition, I'm telling you. But the thing with Scarlett is, you can't wait to take her clothes off.

"Salander should be like E.T. If you put E.T. dolls out before anyone had seen the movie, they would say, 'What is this little squishy thing?' Well you know what? When he hides under the table and he grabs the Reese's Pieces, you love him. It has to be like that."

'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' - which tells the tale of a journalist (Daniel Craig) who is searching for a missing women with the help of a computer hacker - is currently in post-production and expected for release in December 2011.