Child 44

Tom Rob Smith’s first novel, “Child 44”, published in early 2008, was inspired by the true-life case of Andrei Chikatilo, who committed a series of child murders in Soviet Russia. An immediate bestseller, the book has been translated into 36 languages, the film rights were optioned by Ridley Scott even before the novel was released. He offered the lead role to Rapace when they first met discussing projects. “I met Ridley and he said, ‘I’m a fan of yours and I loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I would like to work with you,’ and I was like, I’m going to die now!” the actress told the Independent in a 2014 interview. “He gave me the script for Child 44, so it was the one of the first American scripts that I read.” Scott and Rapace settled for “Prometheus” first, and by the time “Child 44” got financed to start shooting, the director settled for producing duties. Now directed by Daniel Espinosa, the male lead was offered to Tom Hardy, who had just wrapped “The Drop” with Rapace.

I met Tom two years previously and we were looking for something to work on. What was really great was that we know each other really well, and we really trust each other, so we don’t need to be polite, we don’t need to start from zero. We could just melt into the next one. We had so much for free. It felt like we were this gypsy family coming from New York with all our family and the next stop was Prague. (Noomi Rapace, The Independent, January 24, 2014)

Principal photography began in June 2013 in the cities of Prague, Ostrava, and Kladno in the Czech Republic, with an international cast that included Gary Oldman, Vincent Cassel, Jason Clarke, Paddy Considine and Charles Dance. However, it would take another 2 years for the film to see the light of day. “Child 44” was released in April 2015 with little promotion and a dismal box office. Many reviews criticised the muddled tone of the film – and the fast array of Russian accents among European actors. Fans of the book were critical by changed plot points – including the identity of the killer and his motivations. “Child 44” wrapped up with $13 million at the box office against its $50 million budget.