Saturday saw the BFI London Film Festival gala for The Drop, adapted from a Dennis Lehane novel and starring Tom Hardy as a bartender in a Brooklyn club often used for the transfer of dirty money. He meets Nadia (Noomi Rapace) by chance after discovering an injured dog in her trash can. It also features the last screen performance from the late James Gandolfini.
Rapace praised director Michaël Roskam, comparing his work to Ridley Scott, with whom she worked on Prometheus. She said, “Ridley Scott started with art school and Michaël did the same thing. They have the same sort of approach, like they’re drawing big pictures and then they put you into it and you’re supposed to live in that world.”
Lehane’s novels have been adapted for the big screen several times before, most famously in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and Ben Affleck thriller Gone Baby Gone.
“That was kind of scary in the beginning because my friends were saying ‘you’ve got Scorsese, Affleck, then you’,” said Roskam. “It just proves Lehane is a great writer because he makes stories that are so inspiring and a perfect fit to turn into movies. I was very lucky and happy to bring one of those contributions to American film tradition and bring another film based on his stories.
“I feel very honoured and I hope that the fans of Lehane still love me.”
We also asked Rapace, who has worked with some of Hollywood's finest in recent years, who she has on her list of Directors To Work With. "I'd love to work with Scott Cooper or Darren Aronofsky," she said. "I think their movies are very strong, personal, different and brave. They’re always exploring something and going to places where it’s not always convenient and nice to be.”
She also called Yann Demange’s ‘Troubles’ thriller** ’71** “amazing” and said she would love to work with him in the future.
The Drop is playing at the London Film Festival on October 12-13. It is set for a nationwide release in the UK on November 14.
Reporting by Tom Beasley