Empire Magazine has a Friday treat for everyone who’s looking forward to “The Drop” – the film’s UK poster and trailer, which features new scenes with Noomi. Here’s what they write: Tom Hardy stars as Bob Saginowski, a quiet man living in a poor part of New York City. He tends bar for his Cousin Marv (James Gandolfini), a bar that also operates as a drop point for illegal merchandise and money. He meets Nadia (Noomi Rapace) when he rescues a beaten dog outside her house, but has bigger problems on his mind after the bar is robbed at gunpoint and Bob finds himself pulled into the investigation of what happened. Roskam’s Bullhead star Matthias Schoenaerts plays the injured dog’s owner, Eric, who butts up against Bob when he tries to reclaim the injured animal and John Ortiz rounds out the cast as a police officer investigating the robbery.

Fox Searchlight has released the theatrical trailer for “The Drop”, starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and James Gandolfini in his final film. Directed by “Bullhead” filmmaker Michael Roskam, “The Drop” follows an ex-con trying to go straight, working a legit job in a bar, whose life gets upended by a robbery gone wrong. It’s potent stuff, particularly for this Brooklyn-set tale, and Roskam knew he had a great duo in Hardy and Gandolfini, according to a recent article by USA Today. “I could see there was a bit of a smile between them. It was like, ‘We’re going to nail this, right?’ ” Roskam said of the production. “And they did this intense scene and were just spot on. There was a beautiful connection between those two guys.” You can watch the trailer in the video archive, screencaptures have been added to the photo gallery.

Fox Searchlight has set a release date for “Animal Rescue” – September 19, 2014. But not only that, the film has changed its title to “The Drop”. The film stars Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Matthias Schoenaerts, James Gandolfini, John Ortiz and James Frecheville. “The Drop” focuses on a man (Tom Hardy) who wants to shed his criminal path but somehow gets mixed up in a bad heist and a killing resulting from a lost and contested pit bull. Rapace will play Nadia, a woman who crosses paths with the protagonist when he finds a wounded puppy outside her home. Author Dennis Lehane adapted the film from his own short story that first appeared in ‘Boston Noir.’ Previous Lehane movie adaptations include ‘Mystic River,’ ‘Shutter Island’ and ‘Gone Baby Gone.’

The Playlist has sat down with Noomi in Marrakech for an amazing interview in which she dishes on all of her new projects – including “Child 44” and “Animal Rescue” – and confirming “Alive Alone” and “What Happened to Monday”. Make sure to read the complete interview over at The Playlist.

On Child 44:

We did “Animal Rescue” and I love working with him. We know each other … sometimes you meet someone and you feel like you can go anywhere—step into different characters and time zones or a period film or contemporary or whatever—we have a very intimate [relationship] and trust each other a lot. But we have a lot of fun even if it’s quite dark or heavy, we’re always laughing a lot and having a good time, so I love working with him and he’s such an incredible actor, I’ve been really lucky. And Gary Oldman is in it, who is one of my heroes, and Ridley Scott produced so he’s in the background and Daniel Espinosa who is from Chile but grew up in Sweden he is directing it. He did “Safe House,” and “Snabba Cash” and he’s also a friend of mine. So it was a long shoot and quite a big epic movie in one way, but very much a character drama, also some kind of reverse love story between my character and Tom’s character: they’ve been married for eight years when the movie starts and it’s like a cold war between them.

On Animal Rescue:

I loved [his previous film] “Bullhead.” I saw it and was blown away and I called my team “I want to work with this guy!” Then I read “Animal Rescue” before he was even on board, and I was meeting with Fox Searchlight, we kept a dialogue going, and then when I heard Roskam was doing it, I wanted to do it. I think he’s very passionate, and intense and very well prepared, he knows what he wants and is very focused, very much an actor’s director. There’s actually a scene that’s not in the script, I came to him and said I think we need this scene, between me and Matthias, that tells more about the two of them, that they have a history together that you never really saw. We did it, like four takes and when I met them in L.A., they said it’s one of the best scenes, so he’s very open. I definitely think we will work together again.

On Alive Alone:

It’s actually one of the most beautiful scripts I’ve read, it’s a fantastic love story. I would say if you take “Taxi Driver” and “Leaving Las Vegas” and throw them together … It’s an intense story between my character who is a heroin addict and prostitute in New York and Matthias Schoenaerts, he is playing the other lead. We worked together on “Animal Rescue” and we really connected but we only had two scenes together. We felt straight away that we wanted to work together again, and he gave me the script and I read it and I thought it was amazing.

On What Happened to Monday:

Yeah I’m doing that, maybe it’s a big mistake! I will play seven twin sisters. I just came back from meeting with one of the producers in Paris and next week I’m in London to work with the director [Tommy Wirkola] on the script. It’s a Black List script, and was written for a man.

Lots of new on-set pictures from the making of “Animal Rescue”, taken yesterday and today, have been added to the image library. Both Noomi and Tom Hardy seem to enjoy shooting the scenes with their animal co-star(s). Launch all last added pictures by clicking any of the previews below. Many thanks to Lindsey for sending in most of these.

Lots of new on-set pictures from “Animal Rescue”, taken yesterday, have been added to the gallery. Noomi Rapace can be seen with co-stars Tom Hardy, Matthias Schoenarts and director Michael R. Roskam.

The first pictures of Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace on the set of “Animal Rescue” have been released (taken yesterday, March 18). Have a look at them in the gallery. Many thanks to Lindsey for sending them in!

According to Variety, James Gandolfini looks to be returning to the criminal underworld, as he is in talks to join the cast of the Fox Searchlight crime pic “Animal Rescue” starring Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace. “Bullhead” helmer Michael R. Roskam will helm with his “Bullhead” star Matthias Schoenaerts on board to star. Pic is based on the Dennis Lehane short story and follows a man who wants to shed his criminal past but somehow gets mixed up in a bad heist and a killing, resulting from a lost and contested pitbull. The complete article can be read Variety.

Exciting news. During the recent promotion for “Dead Man Down”, Noomi has confirmed both “Animal Rescue” – which is already shooting – as well as “Child 44” as her upcoming projects. In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Rapace has reviewed her five favorite films of all times, including director Michaël R. Roskam’s thriller “Bullhead”, the Belgian thriller starring Matthias Schoenaerts, that was nominated as Best Foreign Language film at the Academy Awards last year.

I love the movie Bullhead. I’m working with the director now. He’s kind of putting the light into a business, a very dirty business – it’s not the cool gangsters, it’s not the kind of sexy gangster world; it’s the gritty, very uncharming world of criminals working in the meat industry in Belgium. And the whole backstory to this lead guy is so incredible. I was in tears a couple of times when I saw it. And now I’m gonna work with Matthias [Schoenaerts] and with Michaël R. Roskam, who directed it.

In an interview with Esquire, she has mentioned “Animal Rescue” as well, alongside the next project, “Child 44”:

Q: You’re in New York shooting Animal Rescue, which is your second movie with Tom Hardy? A: No, actually this is the first, and then we do Child 44 after that. Q: Did you know him before you signed on to two movies with him? A: Yeah, I knew him, he’s a friend of mine. We’ve been trying to find something to do because I think he’s such an amazing actor and I adore him as a person. Then we both read the script, and it’s amazing. I love it. It’s based on a short novel by Dennis Lehane, who wrote Mystic River. It’s a light comedy and my character is a very cute girl-next-door. No, actually it’s a drama, but I was kind of laughing out loud when I was reading the script a couple of times, because I found it funny. It’s dark, of course.

Both projects sound very interesting with talented people behind, so there’s two more films to look forward to.

Shortly before Christmas, Fox Searchlight offered Noomi Rapace the female lead opposite Tom Hardy in Michael Roskam’s drama “Animal Rescue” (read article here) and Variety has learned that the “Prometheus” star has accepted the role and closed her deal. Chernin Entertainment and Mike Larocca are producing the pic, which author Dennis Lehane adapted from his own short story that first appeared in “Boston Noir.” Production is skedded to begin this spring in New York, where Fox Searchlight is relocating the story rather than film in Massachusetts, where Lehane adaptations “Mystic River,” “Shutter Island” and “Gone Baby Gone” all took place. Hardy stars as a man looking to reform his criminal ways who gets mixed up in a bad heist and a killing resulting from a lost and contested pit bull. Rapace will play Nadia, a woman with a scar across her entire neck who crosses paths with the protag when he finds a wounded puppy outside her home. Rapace had been looking for a chance to work with Hardy, as the duo were also considering working together on Scott Free’s long-gestating project “Child 44.”