Aug 10, 2010 14:59 GMT  ·  By

Fresh off the “Harry Potter” franchise, British actress Emma Watson is looking to land the leading role in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” which is why she chopped off all her hair.

Though she was saying last week she found the gesture “liberating,” it could be that there’s more to Emma’s decision to go for the pixie cut, Ace Showbiz reports.

For a while, the actress has been considered a favorite to land the lead in the upcoming adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s book from the “Millennium Trilogy” – and Emma has just done her possible to up her chances.

Because the main female character is a biker-type of girl, the actress has decided her long locks were not helping her land the part. So she put a scissors through them on the spot.

Daniel Craig of the latest two “James Bond” film has already been cast in the film for the male lead and Emma is gunning for the part of computer hacker and Jane of all trades, Lisbeth Salander.

“Emma has auditioned with director David Fincher and cut her hair to look the part. The character of Lisbeth is a misfit goth-type girl with spiky hair,” one source reveals for the British media, as cited by Ace Showbiz.

Right now, Emma needs all the advantages she can get because she’s reportedly facing very stiff competition for the part, with actresses Natalie Portman, Ellen Page and Carey Mulligan also being considered for it.

If this is an accurate report, it would come to contradict Emma herself, who recently said on her Facebook page the change in look was a sign of rebellion (of sorts) against having to maintain her locks until she was done with “Harry Potter.”

She also said a while ago that she wanted to take it easy for some time and focus on her studies, which would have implied she was not interested in another franchise at the moment.

“Oh my God, it was the most liberating thing!” Emma told EW earlier this week about her new pixie cut, of which she posted pics on Facebook.

“The stylist just grabbed the back of my hair and took a whole ponytail of hair out. It felt amazing. I love it. I’ve wanted to do this since I was about 16, so as soon as I had the chance I was like, Right. This is it,” the actress further explained.

Should Emma Watson land the lead female part in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” rest assured you’ll find out about it here.

Follow me on Twitter @ElenaGorgan