London Film Festival 2014: The Drop premiere – a chat with Noomi Rapace on the red carpet

The Drop is a crime thriller starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and the late James Gandolfini in his last role. Michael Roskam’s English debut has been adapted from the short story Animal Rescue by Denis Lehane, who also wrote the screenplay. The film follows Tom Hardy as Bob, a bartender who works for his cousin Marv (Gandolfini). Rescuing an injured puppy from a rubbish skip one night, Bob adopts the dog, which draws the attention of its former owner Eric Deeds – psychiatric patient and alleged killer. Deeds’ ex-girlfriend Nadia (Rapace) also enters Bob’s life just when he finds himself at the centre of a robbery gone wrong.

The Upcoming spoke to the film’s leading lady, Noomi Rapace, at the BFI Film Festival in London.

Noomi, you have repeatedly collaborated with Tom Hardy…

NR: And I want to do more.

What was it like, collaborating with him and the late James Gandolfini?

NR: Amazing. I work with the best crew and the best group of people. Tom and Matthias (Schoenaerts, who plays Eric Deeds) and James and Michael Roskam were absolutely amazing and we had so much fun. We were laughing a lot.

And what was it like working with Tom Hardy specifically?

NR: I love working with Tom. He’s an amazing actor and he’s a good friend of mine. And the good thing is, if you have a friendship, you can allow yourself to take risks. I know he has my back and it’s a safe place. You can go in any direction. You can allow yourself to try things because I know… I don’t have to think “oh no, I can’t be bad”. I know we’re on a journey together, exploring things. And it’s the best thing if you can find that with someone. For me, it’s a true joy and happiness to be working with him.

Have you ever thought about doing another genre, like comedy?

NR (laughing): I would consider comedy, definitely, but not a happy romantic comedy.

Anne Korn

The Drop is released nationwide on 17^th November 2014.