Ruling over the box office roost in its first weekend of release, the 2024 movie Alien: Romulus has reignited 20th Century Studios’ long running sci-fi franchise. A huge part of that tradition has come from the fact that the 1979 original started something that would carry on throughout the rest of the Alien movies timeline, as well as the various spin offs and tie-in media that came after. 

Throughout the entirety of this IP, there has been a strong current of female leads that have built this saga into what it currently is. Whether serving the forces of good, or in some cases working for The Company itself, the entire Alien series has been anchored by this collection of women who have saved humanity countless times in the depths of space.

How Alien’s History Of Female Leads Almost Didn’t Happen

The history of Alien starts with the script from writers Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, which was actually written without genders set in stone for the characters. According to a 1976 draft house on The Daily Script, the project then known as “Starbeast” carried this insightful stage direction:

Of course, history played out in its own fun way, as the suggestion to make Ellen Ripley Alien’s witty survivor was apparently made on the studio level. In a 2020 L.A. Times interview with Ridley Scott (via CBR) then president of 20th Century Fox Alan Ladd Jr. was the person who pitched Ripley to be a female character. And the rest, as they say, was long lasting history. 

Ellen Ripley (Alien - Alien: Resurrection)

Ellen Ripley: warrant officer and last survivor of the Nostromo, her adventures would become legendary. Surviving three encounters with the Xenomorphs, and being resurrected for one last ride in Alien: Resurrection, her clear thinking is the stuff of legend. Not to mention, thanks to a really impressive shot in her final film in the series, Sigourney Weaver actually sank a basket from quite a distance, without looking, and on the first take.

Private First Class Jenette Vasquez (Aliens)

Throughout her adventures, Ripley didn’t have all of the fun being a strong female lead. Aliens made sure to introduce another fan favorite in the character of Private First Class Jenette Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein). A Colonial Marine who just needs to know where a target is to take it out, her tragic backstory has been fleshed out through a recent continuation novel, Aliens: Vasquez by author V. Castro.

Annalee Call (Alien: Resurrection)

Alien: Romulus introduced the world to another new Synthetic through the character of Andy (David Jonsson), who ranks as one of the least threatening androids in this universe. Right up there with him would be Annalee Call (Winona Ryder), the artificial person who helped clone, Ripley 8, and her surviving crewmates from The Betty escape the fury of a rather unique Xenomorph queen. 

Elizabeth Shaw (Prometheus)

An archeologist who helped unlock the key to discovering the Engineers’ home world, Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) is kind of the Indiana Jones of Alien. Though getting a little too wrapped up in her work leads to some horrific consequences, like unwittingly giving birth to a new life form and fighting for her life against the creators of Mankind.

It’s a shame she was eventually revealed to be killed by David (Michael Fassbender). While Elizabeth helps put David back together in the Alien: Covenant promo short “The Crossing,” her good intentions lead to her untimely death, thanks to the android’s betrayal and usage of his human companion as a Xenomorph experiment kit. 

Meredith Vickers (Prometheus)

Not all strong women in the Alien universe are playing for the side of good. Marking one of the rare female antagonists, Prometheus’ Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) is a Weyland Industries’ company woman from head to toe. Taking after her own father and company founder Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), Meredith’s ambition leads to her downfall; thanks to getting crushed by a downed Engineer spaceship that rolls over her fleeing body.

Amanda Ripley (Alien: Isolation)

In the film canon of the Alien movies, the extended version of Aliens tells us that Ellen Ripley’s daughter is dead. But apparently the video game and book canon have seen her live a richer life, and somehow cheat death. Fighting her own battle against Xenomorphs in the game Alien: Isolation, Weyland-Yutani engineer Amanda survives the disaster of the Sevastopol Space Station through her crafty resolve, and is apparently frozen in cryo-stasis, past the date of her supposed death. 

Daniels (Alien: Covenant)

The space colonists of Alien: Covenant’s titular spaceship found themselves fall prey to the machinations of David (Michael Fassbender), leaving the would-be final girl Daniels (Katherine Waterson) to seemingly escape with good guy android Walter (also Fassbender). But, as Alien: Covenant’s twisted ending showed us, Daniels has more than likely been turned into a Xenomorph breeding lab, thanks to David’s old switcheroo with Walter.

Rain Carradine (Alien: Romulus)

So far, the Alien franchise’s run of strong female leads ends with Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny), the functional lead of Fede Álvarez’s current entry in the canon. Without spoiling any details from the Alien: Romulus ending, let’s just say that Rain’s struggle against the Xenomorphs is a welcomed entry in the halls of women who save the day in space.

It’s truly crazy to think that if it wasn’t for a simple decision made in 1979, the world of the Alien movies could have turned out vastly different. Without Ellen Ripley’s heroic journey into terror, the path may not have been paved for other female pop culture icons who helped break down barriers in action and sci-fi cinema.

It’s truly crazy to think that if it wasn’t for a simple decision made in 1979, the world of the Alien movies could have turned out vastly different. Without Ellen Ripley’s heroic journey into terror, the path may not have been paved for other female pop culture icons that helped break down barriers in action and sci-fi cinema. 

However, I’d like to leave you with a quote from Sigourney Weaver herself, courtesy of an Alien Anthology YouTube video honoring a 2019 high school production of the original film. When reflecting on Ripley’s status as a female character, Weaver highlighted exactly why this decision worked:

Ellen Ripley will always be a role model for good character writing and strong female leads getting their due in blockbuster entertainment. So long as her example inspires creative forces in the right ways, that legacy will carry on for some time to come. That decision can be honored by the fans by not only going to see Alien: Romulus in theaters, but also by revisiting the best moments of Warrant Officer Ripley herself via the use of a Hulu subscription. 

The way that Sir Ridley Scott’s Prometheus ended, audiences and fans of the storyline expected to see and hear more from Noomi Rapace’s character, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw. She and David (Michael Fassbender), the android, set off on a fact-finding mission to uncover the Engineers to seek out why they wanted to destroy humanity. Only, Alien: Covenant took a handful of left turns, focusing on a new crew, and Dr. Shaw was sidelined. She appeared briefly in Alien: Covenant as a corpse being used by David for experiments, but a new interview reveals that there were other plans for Rapace before all was changed.

Creature designer Carlos Huante, in a conversation with HN Entertainment, spoke at length about alternate plans for Alien: Covenant in the run up to production. A lot of the changes seemed to focus on David, and how he would be used, because Michael Fassbender’s availability to the production became an issue. And in an early version of the story, there was a lot more story between David and Elizabeth, as Huante explains:

This would track with the type of story that we assumed we were going to get in a Prometheus sequel, tentatively titled Paradise at the time of pre-production. It would pit David and Elizabeth against the Engineers – who they blamed for the attack they had to endure in Prometheus. They hoped to discover the motives behind the actions of the Engineer they woke up in Prometheus. And Carlos Huante has insight into what might have happened if the Paradise storyline played out. He elaborates:

Some of this is covered in a Prometheus prologue that was released:

And more of it just gets swept under the rug of “development,” as it differs from what was shown in Alien: Covenant. Sir Ridley Scott hasn’t given up on this storyline. He talks of new movies in this saga that he wants to complete, so who knows if Noomi Rapace will get a chance to shine in one of these movies again. Stranger things have happened.

It's no secret that actors get hurt on the sets of their films. Sometimes these injuries force a production to shut down, and other times the performer simply needs to walk it off. Now, as it turns out, Noomi Rapace suffered some brutal injuries while working on the set of her new spy thriller, Unlocked -- not the least of which included a ripped muscle in her stomach. The Prometheus star opened up to me during our recent conversation about Unlocked and explained:

I don't know about you, but that sounds like one of the most horrific on-set injuries that could happen. Noomi Rapace ripped a muscle in her stomach (that kind of reminds you of the controversial cesarean scene from Prometheus, doesn't it?), but she powered through it with sheer willpower and a four-inch needle full of mystery medicine. If she looks intense during her fight scenes in Unlocked, that's probably because she quite literally threw herself into her stunts.

However, that wasn't the only significant injury that Noomi Rapace suffered while working on Unlocked. The actress continued and explained that co-star Orlando Bloom actually broke her nose during a fight scene, saying:

Finally, as if those injuries weren't severe enough, it appears that Noomi Rapace also suffered a severely broken foot on the final day of shooting. Rapace elaborated:

When you put all of that together, filming Unlocked sounds like a legitimately exhausting process. Learning about how hurt Noomi Rapace got on the set of that one movie, it makes sense why certain performers would leave the stunt work to the professionals. That said, it's clear that Rapace's commitment to the physicality of her roles shines through in all of her work, and this film is no different.

Unlocked out now in theaters and VOD. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, check out our comprehensive movie premiere guide and fill out our moviegoing calendars accordingly!

Because Alien: Covenant centers on a new ensemble of characters led by Katherine Waterston and Danny McBride, there has been question among fans about how exactly the upcoming film would go about addressing exactly what happened to Noomi Rapace's Elizabeth Shaw and Michael Fassbender's David. It seems that the answer to that querey has been revealed, with the blockbuster addressing the issue in viral video form, with a new prologue called The Crossing. Check it out below!

At the end of Prometheus, Elizabeth Shaw and David (sans body) were able to safely get away from the alien planet and started to make their way to the homeworld of the "Engineers" a.k.a. the creatures believed to have created humanity. As we learn in this prologue, the flight took many, many years, and Shaw took the time to repair David and give him a new body. After a while, it's decided that it would be best for Shaw to be put in hypersleep/stasis, and David is put in charge of the ship until they reach their destination. While we don't know if he actually wakes up his fellow crewmate when they do arrive -- seen at the end of the clip -- we do know that David has taken a lot of time to learn about the Engineers, including who they are and why they do what they do.

As far as treating exposition within a major movie franchise, this tactic taken by Alien: Covenant is an interesting one. Ridley Scott knows that audiences are going to be asking the question about what happened to Elizabeth Shaw and David in the years after Prometheus, and it's possible that there was no real elegant way to cover that territory within the narrative of his blockbuster. So what does he do? He makes what is essentially a short film that fills in the gaps. Admittedly this isn't entirely new territory for the director, as he also made viral material for Prometheus and The Martian, but this is a new context for the material and it will be interesting to see how it winds up influencing what we see in the movie.

Fans will be able to do that in just a few short weeks, as Alien: Covenant is now on the horizon. Being Alien Day, today is certainly a big day for the blockbuster, but it's not as substantial as May 19th -- which is the Friday that the new Ridley Scott film will be arriving in theaters nationwide. What do you think of this prologue? What do you think happened to Elizabeth Shaw after her time in stasis? Hit the comments section below and leave all of your thoughts, feelings and opinions.

It won't be too long before people start to uncover the secrets of director Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant, as the May premiere date of the film seems to be approaching at a faster pace than a Xenomorph at full sprint. And yet, it seems that the legendary sci-fi master has played his hand a little too freely at the recent SXSW festival, as he's already answered one of the biggest questions Prometheus had left us asking: what's next for Elizabeth Shaw? Well, we think we know what it is, and it does not sound the least bit pleasant, as it sounds like David may not be as friendly as he leads on.

Fandango recently picked up on some remarks that Ridley Scott had made during his SXSW appearance, and when asked about actor Noomi Rapace's potential involvement with Alien: Covenant, he answered with the below statement:

Now on its own, that statement is vaguely menacing. Knowing that David was responsible for the whole mess that followed in Prometheus, what with his conscious spiking of Charlie Holloway's drink indirectly causing the creation of the first Xenomorph specimen, that statement becomes even more sinister. Using the black substance that was discovered on LV-223, David conducted his first experiments in xenobiology, and looking at another remark Ridley Scott made during his recent festival appearance, it sounds like he's up to his old tricks again, finishing the work he'd attempted with Elizabeth previously and using her as a Xenomorph petri dish.

Previously, we ran a story about how David has been "genetically engineering" his idea of a perfect Xenomorph on whichever planet Alien: Covenant takes place on. This was revealed through a clip that Scott brought to sell the film at SXSW, and in that clip Michael Fassbender's David eventually mentions this to Billy Crudup's Christopher, as well as his intention of using him as basically a "mother" for his next iteration of the creature. So with David's intentions for both Xenomorph and human laid bare, Alien: Covenant isn't interested in hiding the android's goal to create the ultimate weapon, and more likely the reckoning of humanity. However, that's not the most interesting piece of this theory.

If David truly has made Elizabeth into an incubator for one or more Neomorphs, then Ridley Scott has included yet another call back to Alien. In the 1979 original, Ellen Ripley was also harassed by an android fixated on the creatures the crew of the Nostromo "stumbled upon" on LV-426, as Ash was later revealed to be a synthetic after trying to kill her. Strangely enough, Ash's description of the titular creature could double the right person's description of android kind. That description went as follows:

So it's safe to assume that David and Elizabeth's journey from Prometheus to Alien: Covenant isn't going to be a happy one, and what David "carried out later" is nothing short of his human companion being lulled into a false sense of security/turned into a walking lab experiment. It totally fits the sorts of storylines Ridley Scott likes to tell in the universe, where creations abandon their creators and strike back, and nature is always in control. It won't be long until we see this theory proven or debunked as it hits theaters on May 19th.

Do you agree with our theory, or is this nothing more than reading too much into a couple of vague statements. Chime in on our comments section below and let us know what you think.

Later this year, Sir Ridley Scott will return to the Alien universe he first visited in 1979 with a follow up to his 2012 science fiction adventure Prometheus, now titled Alien: Covenant. Though this will be a step towards eventually catching up with the Alien continuity, it will still be the direct descendent of Prometheus, but while it will bring back some key pieces from that film, there will be one noticeable absence: Noomi Rapace.

Scott and the Alien: Covenant crew are preparing to film in Australia later this year, but when that commences, Noomi Rapace, who starred in the first film and is one of two characters who survived the conclusion, will not make an appearance. Ridley Scott told Yahoo Australia that the Swedish actress will not reprise her role, and that they are "still casting" the main roles.

The 36-year-old actress played Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, the leader of a late 21st Century expedition to the deepest reaches of space as they searched for the origins of mankind. What they found wasn’t what they expected, and things took a deadly turn. At the end of the movie, she blasts off with the pieces of the humanoid robot David (Michael Fassbender), searching for the Engineers, those responsible for creating the human race, and looking for answers to an entirely different set of questions.

Noomi Rapace not appearing in Alien: Covenant runs contrary to what we’ve heard thus far, but is not a terrible shock. Reports indicated that though she was expected back, it would be in a much smaller role—some suspected in flashbacks or archival footage—and given the timeline, her absence will be easy to explain.

According to the latest reports, Covenant is set ten years after Prometheus. At the end of that film, Shaw and David take off in an alien spacecraft not entirely sure where they’re headed. Given a lack of supplies, the uncertainty of their quest, and the hazardous environment that is deep space, surviving for an additional decade is a difficult task.

David doesn’t need things like air and food, and he will still figure prominently into the narrative—there have even been rumors that Michael Fassbender may play two roles. The plot revolves around a colony ship called, you guessed it, the Covenant. When the crew encounters a planet that they initially believe to be an uncharted paradise, they wind up finding much more than they bargained for. The only inhabitant is the synthetic David, and things are far from as idyllic as they appear at first. According to Ridley Scott, we’re going to get a bunch of different alien threats, both new creatures and familiar beasts, which sounds awesome. At least for audiences, the crew of the Covenant probably won’t enjoy their presence as much.

Inherent Vice star Katherine Waterston has signed up to play the lead, a character named Daniels. There’s not much more known about her role, though some have speculated that, since Ridley Scott has talked about how these new movies will lead directly to Alien, perhaps she is some relative of Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley. Let’s hope she’s even a fraction that badass.

Production is set to kick off in Australia in relatively short order, and Alien: Covenant is slated to touch down in theaters on October 6, 2017.

At the end of Ridley Scott's Prometheus, Noomi Rapace's character of Elizabeth Shaw finally got to meet one of the Engineers that created her and the rest of humanity. The only trouble with that meeting was that it turned out the gods who created us wanted to take us out of this universe just as quickly, and had the weapons to do so. After a climactic battle that eventually created the Xenomorphs from the Alien series, we were left with Shaw and David (or what's left of him) heading off to find more of the answers that she's been searching for.

Despite Ridley Scott ruling out the Xenomorphs as being the villains in Prometheus 2, Noomi Rapace revealed in an MTV UK interview to promote The Drop that her idea for the next villains in the biological/theological sci-fi franchise are probably the biggest options available.

So instead of fighting off The Deacon, who we've confirmed is hiding in the dark, waiting for us all...

...we're probably going to see Elizabeth Shaw fight against either the benevolent almighty himself...

...or one of Tim Curry's most notable job descriptions.

Except, you know, something that looks more like the Engineers we saw in Prometheus.

Chicanery aside, this actually sounds like a really good idea for the Prometheus franchise, which moved from less of a biological nightmare and into more of a theological one. After all, what would you do if the deity you grew up believing in and praising turned out to be a genocidal maniac who not only accidentally created your species, but is looking for ways to correct that mistake? Not to mention, using God and The Devil as villains in Prometheus 2 would mesh together Ridley Scott's preoccupation with religious iconography and space travel, and that's too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Now Noomi Rapace isn't saying that this is definitely happening, but she would have a better idea than most about where Prometheus is going in its thematic voyage. As if to remind us of the only real quantifiable piece of story anyone outside of the writers has involving the sequel, she dropped this reminder of the main thrust to whatever villain waits out in the stars, "Elizabeth Shaw wants to go to Paradise...she wants to go to where [the Engineers] came from." It's that journey that's going to be our main focus, and it's that reason why God and The Devil should be expected to carry on the threatening element of any future Prometheus sequel.

You can watch the full interview below, in order to hear Rapace's exact tone and context when issuing her statements.

The Martian is Ridley Scott's next film, which is due out next November and casts more than heavy doubt on Prometheus 2's rumored March 2016 release date. Noomi Rapace can next be seen in Child 44 on April 17, 2015. The Deacon can next be seen in a dinner theater production of Death Of A Salesman.

Between his Men in Black and her Prometheus, Will Smith and Noomi Rapace could understandably be called modern icons of science fiction. Now they are teaming up for a sci-fi thriller. And surprise surprise, it will not feature either battling hostile aliens.

Variety reports that Will Smith and Noomi Rapace have officially signed on to co-star in Brilliance, which is being helmed by Nigerian director Julius Onah. Legendary Pictures is producing the thriller based on the novel from Marcus Sakey's emerging trilogy. The second book in this series is set to hit stores later this year, and if Brilliance shines at the box office we can assume sequels--for which its stars are likely already contracted--will follow.

Here's the novel's official synopsis:

Smith is set to star as Nick Cooper. At this point, Rapace's role is unknown. If you've read the Brilliance novel, please share your guess at her casting in comments.

We first got word of Brilliance back in early 2013, when Legendary Pictures acquired the novel's movie rights months ahead of its summer release. Shortly thereafter, Legendary set celebrated (and highly paid) screenwriter David Koepp on the task of adapting the novel into a compelling screenplay. For an idea of what Legendary is hoping for, consider Koepp's filmography, which boasts writing credits on Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

Less than a year later Koepp had clearly gotten the script to a place where Legendary felt comfortable moving forward. From there, the studio began negotiations with Will Smith to star, and now here we are.

Sci-fi has been a mixed bag for Smith of late. In the summer of 2012, he debuted Men in Black 3, a $225 million movie that made $624 million worldwide, but only $179 million domestically, along with mixed reviews. Then of course 2013 brought After Earth a $130 million vehicle for Will Smith and his son Jaden Pinkett Smith that earned just $60 million domestic. Worldwide, it managed $243 million, but the untold but undeniably high costs of print and advertising surely ate away at these overseas profits. Plus, the M. Night Shyamalan-directed adventure was absolutely loathed by critics.

Nonetheless, there's reason to be hopeful for Brilliance. For one, Legendary is winning rave reviews on their latest science-fiction tent pole Godzilla. For another, they've gotten Koepp on board to craft a compelling concept into a masterfully suspenseful screenplay. So Brilliance has a solid base, even before you add the star power of seemingly effortless charisma of Will Smith and Noomi Rapace. We'll give you more on this project as it develops.

Brilliance will go into production this August. In the meantime, keep an eye out for Marcus Sakey's other adaptation, Good People, which is expected to hit theaters later this year.

It's always fun to see an actor challenge themselves by taking on a project that requires them to play more than one role, but now Noomi Rapace is taking that idea to some pretty extreme levels. The Swedish star has signed a deal to star in the upcoming indie sci-fi movie What Ever Happened To Monday?, a film that will require the actress to play seven different parts.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the casting news, the film will be directed by Tommy Wirkola, who is best known for his Nazi zombie movie Dead Snow and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, which was released earlier this year. The movie will be based on a screenplay by Max Botkin and is set in a futuristic world that has been damaged by dangerous overpopulation. In order to stop society from growing too large, a "one-child only" policy is created. Rapace will star as a group of septuplet sisters who are forced to try and live separate lives while also remain hidden from the government. When one of their own goes missing, the sisters have to work together - very much at their own risk - to find her.

Interestingly enough, the lead role was originally planned as a part for a male actor, but Wirkola decided to have this detail of the script changed after he met with Rapace and was impressed by her presence. Said the director in a statement, "Although the role was originally written for a male, I was struck by the complexities of having an actor portray seven characters and immediately knew Noomi was the ideal actor -- male or female -- to bring them to life." The trade report doesn't mention when cameras are going to start rolling on the production or when they are targeting the film for release.

After starring in Dead Man Down with Colin Farrell and Terrence Howard earlier this year, Rapce has been keeping very busy - and strangely has been working quite a bit with Tom Hardy. In 2014 the actors are set to appear together in two separate films, though neither title has a release date just yet. The first, titled Animal Rescue, is based on a Dennis Lehane story and script and is a crime drama that tells a complicated story sparked by a lost pit bull. The second, Child 44, is an adaptation of Tom Rob Smith's novel of the same name and follows a disgraced cop as he works to try and solve a string of child murders in Soviet Russia. Rapace is also expected to reprise her role as Elizabeth Shaw in Ridley Scott's Prometheus 2, whenever that project ends up getting off the ground.

I can't personally think of any movie that had an actor playing seven lead roles in the same story, but I'll admit that the first movie that popped into my head when I was first reading about this film was Multiplicity with Michael Keaton. Enjoy some '90s nostalgia below:

While this trailer isn’t exactly NSFW or anything, I’d advise you to consider not watching it, both because it’s pretty terrible and because it gives away a good portion of the film’s plot. You've been warned!

Just a few minutes ago, I was sitting at my office chair, getting ready to watch the new trailer for Brian De Palma’s, Passion, which will finally be coming out in a few months. And I am currently sitting in that same chair. But for about a minute-and-a-half, I was transported back to the living room at my childhood home, pausing my channel-flipping long enough to pay attention to whatever movie was airing on USA’s Up All Night. All that was missing was Gilbert Gottfried, hollering before and after the commercials. Sadly, it wasn’t a tangible trip through time. It was just an extremely overwrought exercise in misinterpreting what makes something provocative.

Hearing about the film inspired no excitement. A remake of an unamazing French movie, Love Crime, that trades in two stellar actresses for a good one and an average one? That’s a raincheck I don’t mind signing. But still, it’s De Palma, and it’s Rachel McAdams. That should mean something! And McAdams joins Noomi Rapace in a make-out session or two. You see how that didn’t elicit much of a tingle? I realize it may sound like I’m only speaking to straight males and lesbians, but I don’t see how that would get a positive response from straight women or gay men either. It seems destined for, oh I don’t know, late-night cable TV. De Palma seems have created an elixir of the sleaziest film from each decade of his career, and then dumped a bunch of tap water into it.

Passion centers on the strange relationship between Christine, McAdams’ upscale businesswoman and Isabelle, Rapace’s power-hungry protégé. Christine has almost everything she wants at her fingertips and decides to take Isabelle along for an up-and-down ride to the top, but with intentions that are far from sincere. It’s a game of seduction, blindfolds, dominance and illicit videos. There’s also Dirk (Paul Anderson), the third angle on their sexual triangle. There’s murder! Or is there? Probably not, if that last scene has anything to do with it.

From the flat line readings to the whispered line readings to the repeated bass drops in the soundtrack, there isn’t much going on here to look forward to. I'm starting to think De Palma's libido hopped out of his body and edited this thing. Of course, when all is said and done, watching an ice queen McAdams act like a bitch for 105 minutes doesn’t sound too taxing. For me, anyway.

Passion will leave theaters dripping with lust when it releases on August 30, 2013.

Even before James Gandolfini spent years winning a slew of awards and engaging audiences as Tony Soprano, one of TV’s most ruthless and entertaining characters, he was usually cast as a henchman or a big hulking baddie, in films such as Get Shorty and True Romance. But after The Sopranos went off the air? Fuhgeddaboudit! There’s no escaping the crime life for Gandolfini.

For his next role, Variety reports he’ll next don his criminal duds for Animal Rescue, a crime film that will soon begin production through Fox Searchlight. This will be the second feature directed by Michaël R. Roskam, who last released the Belgian crime drama Bullhead. Gandolfini will join Bullhead’s star, Matthias Schoenaerts, who is also in both the Belgian and American remake of the mystery drama The Loft. Also starring in the film are Tom Hardy, who will next be stepping into the titular Mad Max role, and Noomi Rapace, who can currently be seen in Niels Arden Oplev’s Dead Man Down.

Animal Rescue was based on a short story from author Dennis Lehane that appeared in the anthology Boston Noir. Lehane himself also wrote the screenplay, which centers on how a downward spiral of events - including a lost pit bull, a murder, and a heist gone wrong – pull a man right back into the life of crime he was trying to put behind him. The story was not specific about which actors would be playing which roles.

Gandolfini, who kept his 2012 busy with solid roles in Zero Dark Thirty,Not Fade Away and Killing Them Softly, can next be seen this Friday as a cranky casino owner in The Amazing Burt Wonderstone.

Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace haven't even begun work on the upcoming Dennis Lehane adaptation Animal Rescue yet, but already they're getting set to team up for another film to do together. The two stars are now both in talks to join the cast of Child 44, the upcoming thriller based on the novel by Tom Rob Smith.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, which reported the casting news, the story is a period piece set in 1950s Soviet Russia and centers on a police officer working to solving a string of child murders. But as he digs further and further into the mystery he suddenly finds himself as " the target of his own government’s suspicions." Should they sign on, Hardy will be playing the lead role, while Rapace will play his wife, a woman who seems to be hiding a secret.

As first reported last August, Safe House director Daniel Espinosa will be helming the feature, with Ridley Scott and Michael Costigan producing through their Scott Free label. Richard Price, who previously wrote for HBO's The Wire and has feature credits including 2000's Shaft and Martin Scorsese's segment in 1989's New York Stories, is handling the adaptation.

Hardy and Rapace both have Animal Rescue as the next film on their respective production schedules, with the Michaël R. Roskam-directed project set to go before cameras in March. He most recently completed work on George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road (which sadly won't be heading to theaters until 2014) while the Prometheus star will next be seen alongside Colin Farrell in the action movie Dead Man Down.

As one of the universally agreed-upon bright spots of Ridley Scott's Prometheus, and of course as the unforgettable Lisbeth Salander in the original Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo films, Noomi Rapace is very much on her way up, and could easily be a good role away from being the new Marion Cotillard-- a foreign actress to become an A-lister in the States. She may be hoping the trick to getting there is a reunion with her Dragon Tattoo director Niels Arden Oplev, for their first English-language collaboration Dead Man Down. Get your first look at it in the new trailer below.

Aside from the undeniably up-and-coming Rapace, the rest of the cast seems to be people who could use a break-- Colin Farrell primary among them, after last summer's disappointing Total Recall remake. Terrence Howard has also been on a bad run since his Oscar-nominated work in Hustle and Flow, and there's even Dominic Cooper in there somewhere, having popped up in Abraham LIncoln: Vampire Hunter last year and never seeming to get the kind of work he deserves.

Let's be honest: Dead Man Down looks more like a straightforward thriller than an acting showcase, and it's unlikely any of this cast will show us something here that surprises us. But the movie also looks stylish and intriguing, and though the story about a mysterious woman hiring a hit man is as old as time, it has stuck around because it works. Dead Man Down comes to theaters March 8, opposite the Tina Fey comedy Admission and the Sam Raimi mega-fantasy Oz: The Great And Powerful.

The name “Ripley” isn’t mentioned in Prometheus. That might be a good thing, for by the end of Sir Ridley Scott’s foray back into the realm of his Alien universe, another headstrong female protagonist is vying for Ripley’s crown as resident intellectual with a side of ass-kicking courage.

Meet Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, a woman of faith and science played by Noomi Rapace, the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Shaw’s quest to meet her maker puts her on board Peter Weyland’s space craft bound for a solar system that has been identified on cave walls in key cities around our planet. Is it an invitation from a distant, alien civilization … or a warning to stay away for fear of the dangers that await them.

That’s one of the many questions found at the heart of Prometheus, an intricate puzzle that Rapace and I happily tried to solve over the course of our exclusive interview. Here’s Noomi Rapace:

We throw this term around far too much in our industry, but having spoken with him earlier in the day, I’m comfortable calling Sir Ridley Scott a genius.

He is a genius. And he is an icon. And he absolutely is one of my heroes.

Because he has thought out this world, and is only showing us a small sliver of a larger universe, how much of the mythology did he share with you, and how much did you need to know to fully develop Dr. Elizabeth Show?

I think what’s so fantastic with Ridley is that he is the master of finding and building new worlds. And he knows exactly what he wants, but he’s still very open. He wants our opinions. He has asked me many, many times, “What do you think, Noomi? How would you do this?” And I had lot of ideas and things I wanted to try. I actually had a few scenes that I wanted to add. He thought about it, and came back and said, “Brilliant. You know what? I think you’re right. I think we need that.”

He almost has this childish hunger and desire to discover and create things, to explore and dig in to characters and find life in them. It is a fantastic combination of being in charge, of being the leader, but still being an asker of questions. That’s probably what makes him so fantastic, a man who constantly breaks new ground and makes mind-blowing movies.

Without spoiling much, the ending of Prometheus suggests more to the story. Did you often discuss with Ridley what might come next in the story? How much of that did you want to know?

I don’t think it’s necessary to know what is coming next to do what we are doing here, because you never know, in life, what will happen tomorrow. So you don’t need that information. But definitely, we have been talking about it a lot and dreaming about it. I have real dreams about what happened in the events after Prometheus. I would absolutely love to go back with him into this world.

I also don’t believe Scott gets enough credit for being an actor’s director. He’s often credited with creating epic-scale dramas. But he also gets tremendous performances from his ensembles, which helps ground a lot of the big ideas that he has.

Oh yeah. And do you know what? He loves actors. I remember that I said to him, “I don’t want to be this perfect action heroine. I don’t want make up. I don’t want to look beautiful and sexy and all of those stupid things. I want it to be real. And if it happens to be beautiful in that crazy, fucked up situation, fine.” I think that’s the problem with many big action movies. The women get caught up trying to look good, to be beautiful and sexy. That becomes their main purpose. For me, that becomes boring and hollow. And he loved that! He was like, “No, absolutely not, no make up, no mascara, more sweat!” And I love him for that.

And yet, he is so precise with details. One day he came to me and he said, “So that stain of blood on your cheekbone. … I’m wondering if we should maybe move it down a little bit.” He’s so observant. Sometimes I wonder how his brain works. How can he be looking at seven monitors with seven cameras going and still care about that blood on my cheekbone?

Your character has the very difficult task of bringing religion into the equation. And faith. As an actress, how much of this do you have to believe as an individual to help sell the performance? Can they be wildly different from your own beliefs?

I think so. I did a movie with Brian De Palma called Passion, and my character’s spirit is so completely disturbed. She has a very weird inner landscape. Her thoughts are pretty far away from my thoughts. Elizabeth Shaw is more close to me. It’s easier for me to step into her shoes. But I always say that I have to find a way to always use myself and translate things from my own life. For example, to find the religious side of her, I really had to travel back to my own childhood to remember what I thought and how I saw things. And I believed in angels. I was always pretty sure that we have two different kinds of angels – dark angels and good angels. So a lot of time, as I tried to find Elizabeth, it was almost like I traveled back into myself. You have to use yourself. Or, that’s what I need to do. I don’t want to pretend. I don’t want to fake it. I want to live it.

No matter what Ridley Scott continues to say, the first Prometheus trailer confirmed that the upcoming science-fiction blockbuster has the makings of being an Alien prequel. Which is fine. It’s actually preferred. And a new image shared with the L.A. Times shows what appear to be two Space Jockey suits. Take a look for yourself.

So yeah, this will be an Alien prequel. Why not just call a “spade” a “spade,” as the old saying goes? In case you haven’t seen Scott’s 1979 masterpiece in years, the Space Jockey was the mysterious, fossilized alien creature spotted sitting in a chair, or on some throne of bizarre technology. Scott, at one point, promised the Space Jockey’s back story – and that still may be coming – but then he changed his tune to say that Prometheus will be a standalone story with threads that might connect with Alien.

That’s Noomi Rapace, the original Lisbeth Salander, in the photo. She’s standing in an alien tunnel, and if you are impressed by the authentic look of the sets, that’s because Scott and his team are going for an epic scope that calls to mind the best of David Lean, director of Lawrence of Arabia.

“We wanted to make the movie feel big by having the characters be small in big spaces,” said screenwriter Damon Lindelof (Lost). “That connected to the larger themes we were talking about — that we’re all just these little gnats crawling around on our little planet.”

But a planet that’s connected to Alien, right? Right?!

While I have never been a big fan of Brian DePalma's, I have even less hope for his next feature. Titled Passion, the film is a remake of a French movie called Love Crime, which, by itself, was far too long, remarkably convoluted and featured little payoff (so you can see why DePalma is drawn to it). Add in the fact that three of his most recent efforts include The Black Dahlia, Mission To Mars and Femme Fatale, and there's very little reason to get overly excited for his next project. That said, his choice of female leads is pretty damn intriguing.

With Noomi Rapace already set to star, Thompson on Hollywood is reporting that Rachel McAdams is now in talks to star alongside her. The film is about a young woman who takes revenge on an older female executive who has taken advantage of the protagonist one too many times. Seeing as McAdams and Rapace are only a year apart in age, it's hard to tell who will play which role and the article doesn't specify (the parts were originally played by Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier, who are 19 years apart). In a fun twist, both actresses star in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which is set to come out this Friday. The film is looking to start production in March of next year in Berlin.

If this story is true, I think DePalma is making a big mistake. As much as I didn't like the film, the dynamic between Thomas and Sagnier was interesting because of the boss-protege relationship. If you make the characters the same age then you are taking away one of the few things about the movie that actually worked. Still, McAdams and Rapace are both talented actresses, so maybe they can work with what DePalma gives them.

It would seem that director Niels Arden Oplev knows that when you find the gold in the mine, you stop digging. In 2009 the Danish filmmaker blew up after directing the Swedish-language version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. But while the story was solid, the pace was great and the visuals were beautiful, the best part of the movie was the performance by Noomi Rapace, who played anti-social hacker Lisbeth Salander and became a star in her own right (she'll next be seen this December in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows). Now the two are set to work together again, and they are bringing in another high-profile actor for the ride.

According to THR, Oplev and Rapace will be teaming with Colin Farrell for the recently announced project Dead Man Down. Unveiled at the American Film Market, the project is described as a mob drama about a hitman (Farrell) who falls in love with a "disfigured former beauty" (Rapace) and goes on a killing spree. The script was written by J.H. Wyman, who is best known for his work on the Fox series Fringe. Wyman is also producing the project along with Neal Moritz and Ori Marmur.

While Oplev has been attached to American titles before, such as Marcus Sakey's Good People and The Last Photograph (which he is no longer doing), none of them have made it into production yet. In fact, the director hasn't made a movie since The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. The plan is to start shooting Dead Man Down in early 2012.

Though the next project from Tron: Legacy director Joe Kosinski has an official release date-- July 19, 2013-- and as of March had a confirmed leading man-- that'd be Tom Cruise-- we haven't heard much about it in the last few months. That seems to be ready to change as production starts to gear up. Variety has news that not only has the movie changed names, from Oblivion to the new working title Horizons, but five actresses are heading into the office to test for the lead role opposite Cruise.

They're saying that a laundry list of "hot-right-now" actresses will be testing for the part on Saturday- The Help and The Tree of Life breakout star Jessica Chastain, Tron: Legacy's own Olivia Wilde, Another Earth and Sundance fave Brit Marling, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo herself Noomi Rapace, and former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko. As for the title switch, that's not totally out of the blue-- we wrote back in March, when the project was still at Disney, that a new writer had been hired and the title had been changed to Horizons.

The new title seems to be better suited to the film's plot, though, which finds Cruise as a lonely soldier left on the surface of the Earth after everyone else has fled to live in the clouds and stay safely away from the aliens who have taken over the planet. Based on a plot description we heard over a year ago, the plot kicks off when this soldier "meets a woman stranded in a crash and the two take an epic adventure that changes his world view." Sounds not unlike what happens in Tron: Legacy except with the genders reversed-- no wonder Wilde is in the running for the role.

Kosinski has picked a good list of five women to put opposite Cruise, a slightly starrier version of the other shortlist of actresses vying to join him in One Shot. Though Horizons feels like slightly less of a must-see given the lackluster result of Tron: Legacy, Kosinski is still a director with a ton of clout for having just one feature behind him. Here's hoping that by tackling an original story he feels very attached to, he can manage to tell a story in Horizons that matches his obvious visual skill.

After months and months of speculation and rumors, we're finally learning some solid information about Ridley Scott's Alien prequel-- including that it may no longer be an Alien prequel after all. First the hard facts via the 20th Century Fox Twitter feed:

That's the basic information that Deadline is working off in their more expansive piece, which has quotes from writer Dmaon LIndelof and Scott himself. Remember when Lindelof was hired to write a script for Scott that could either become the Alien prequel or something more unique? It seems that they went with the "original film" angle, based on what Scott told Deadline:

Scott will direct the project with Rapace in the lead as "Elizabeth Shaw," who is apparently a scientist. Deadline is floating the rumor that Charlize Theron and Angelina Jolie are in the running to play the other big female lead "Vickers," but all Fox is promising is that the other roles will be filled out soon-- there are five major parts total. Lindelof didn't reveal much more in his statement to Deadline, other than saying the film is "hopefully the last thing anyone expects."

So those of you fearful about what an Alien prequel might over-explain about a world we felt pretty good about already, it seems the worst has been avoided, and Scott will be focusing on a more original outer-space story instead. This is almost definitely the best possible scenario, avoiding the pitfalls of ruining the Alien legacy while allowing Scott to return to science-fiction after far, far too long away. And Star Trek nerds, think of this-- now that Lindelof is done writing this script, maybe now he has time to finally get that sequel script off the ground after all?

Unlike the new image they released for The Hangover Part II, Warner Bros. has released a shot from Sherlock Holmes II that actually shows us something new-- well, someone new. Swedish star Noomi Rapace, best known as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, has joined as a new love interest for Sherlock, and she's featured prominently in this new image, alongside Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and Watson (Jude Law) in a moment of what looks like dirty chaos.

Check out the image below, along with the first synopsis for the film, though it's especially bare bones and doesn't tell us anything about Rapace's character. For more on Sherlock Holmes II as we get it, check out its entry in our Blend Film Database.

Much as I love Rachel McAdams, to me it’s always made sense that she’d be in the first Sherlock Holmes and then not show up in the second. Sherlock doesn’t need a steady girlfriend and there’s really no way to bring her back without their relationship becoming that. Irene Adler is supposed to be the one woman Sherlock Holmes admires above all others, but will never have. She only appears very briefly in the original Holmes stories and Sherlock’s only steady relationship should be with the stalwart Watson. So when the cast for Sherlock Holmes 2 was announced with McAdams’ name absent and Noomi Rapace as a new female character instead, that seemed about right. Except, well, now McAdams thinks she may be back.

Talking with MTV Rachel revealed that the whole thing is sort of up in the air. She says, “They're still doing script work, and we'll see.” That doesn’t mean she’ll be fighting for screen time with Noomi Rapace. McAdams explains, “If I do, it won't be a very big thing, it’s not a lead part.”

So it sounds like while there’s still a chance Irene may return, if she does it won’t be for long. Don’t expect more than a cameo for Rachel McAdams in Sherlock Holmes 2. Instead you’ll get a steady dose of Noomi Rapace as a gypsy.

Here’s the full, albeit brief interview in which Rachel discusses Sherlock Holmes 2:

For most of the past year, fans were up-in-arms as the release date for Matt Reeves' Let Me In approached. A remake of the Swedish film Let The Right One In from director Tomas Alfredson, fans didn't see the reasoning behind the remake and believed that it would only service to besmirch the original film. Then October 1 arrived and people realized something: Let Me In is a damn fine adaptation of the same book that Alfredson had based his film on. Perhaps someone should let The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo director Niels Arden Oplev know about that.

Oplev recently gave an interview to Word & Film where he expressed distress over the English language adaptation currently being made by David Fincher. He starts the conversation about the new film by discussing Sony's PR and saying that their work is discrediting the performance by Noomi Rapace, who played heroine Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish language films. He then went on to comment about other people's outrage over the "remake," saying:

I must say that these comments come across as quite unfair towards the currently in-production Fincher film in many ways, but let's take it one by one, shall we?

First of all, it's completely unfair of Oplev to make comments about Sony public relations, simply because what they are doing is their job. What exactly does he expect them to say - that Rooney Mara is a great actress but is no Noomi Rapace? Nobody is criticizing Rapace's performance and, in fact, the role has already earned her quite a few jobs in Hollywood. This is simply a case of a director being too over protective of his star, even when she doesn't need it.

Next is the reference to Fincher's film as a "remake." Much like Reeves did with Let Me In, Fincher isn't remaking the Swedish film, but is instead simply adapting the source material (see his comments on the matter here). Having both read Stieg Larsson's novel and seen Oplev's first film, I can say that this is entirely doable. Because of the book's girth (it's nearly 600 pages), it would be a challenge for any writer to shrink down the story to a manageable length, but even in two and a half hours, Oplev cut out some major plot points in the story, such as Mikael Blomkvist's relationship with Erika Berger and dedication to the Millennium newspaper. It's not only possible, but likely that Fincher's film will explore areas that Oplev's did not.

Lastly, there's the reference to La Femme Nikita that is entirely unwarranted and, in many ways, a cheap shot. This comparison lines up the man who directed Zodiac, Fight Club and Se7en against the guy who made Short Circuit and Wargames (neither are awful films, but there is truly no comparison). Nikita also happened to be an original story by Besson that Point of No Return did directly work from, as opposed to an original source. It's apples and oranges.

I don't have an issue with Oplev wanting to protect the sanctity of his work - I wish other directors were as passionate about their films as he seems to be - but his comments here are completely misdirected. If Fincher's film comes out and reveals itself to be a dud, Oplev will have full rights to come out and say, "You should watch my movie instead." The English language adaptation is not an attack on the Swedish language film and it's a mystery why Oplev is perceiving it that way. Would things be fine and dandy if his version of the story was the only one out there? Absolutely - it's a quality film and a much better-than-average mystery story. If Larsson, may he rest in peace, were the one complaining, that would be a horse of a different color. But the truth is that Niels Arden Oplev's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo may have absolutely nothing to do with David Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Earlier this month it was reported that Noomi Rapace, best known for playing Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish Millenium films, was high on the list of potential candidates for the female lead in Ridley Scott's Alien prequel. Since then, names like Natalie Portman and Carey Mulligan have entered the scene, but apparently Scott is pretty hung up on the Swede.

Deadline reports that after nearly a month of auditions, Rapace is still the top name on the director's list of actresses for the lead female role in his film. In addition to Mulligan and Portman, the article says that the studio has also been looking at Abbie Cornish and Olivia Wilde, both of whom have blockbusters coming up in the form of Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch and Joseph Kosinski's Tron: Legacy. There is some concern about Rapace's linguistic skills, as she has yet to be in an English-language film, but that changes next year in Guy Ritchie's sequel to Sherlock Holmes.

While the jury is indeed out on her tongue, I certainly do like the Rapace option. Whoever takes on the role is going to earn some serious comparisons to Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley and not every actress can stand up to that level of scrutiny. Lisbeth Salander is a strong willed character if there ever was one and that alone would suggest that she's up for the task.

Noomi Rapace is a name that most of you probably still don’t know. Maybe that’ll change, because she deserves an Oscar nomination for her work as Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Though the movie was first released in Sweden in 2009 Deadline confirms that she is eligible for nomination. Her performance is the best thing I’ve seen this year.

Whether or not she gets an Oscar nomination, Hollywood has already decided to sit up and take note of her talent. She’s the new Christoph Waltz. While she won’t show up in the unnecessary Americanization of Dragon Tattoo, the 31-year-old actress is getting offers for roles in all sorts of big budget American films, specifically Sherlock Holmes 2 and Mission: Impossible 4. No word on exactly what part she’d play in those movies, but she’s too talented to be wasted on a minor cameo. Hopefully she’ll also avoid being typecast as the cliché, leather-wearing, punk female badass she pulls off in Dragon Tattoo and its sequels. Apparently Rapace is nothing like Lisbeth Salander in person, which only makes her performance more impressive, and her potential as an actress even more tantalizing.

Back in late June a story broke that writer/director Adam McKay, best known for his collaborations with Will Ferrell, was in talks to direct an adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's The Boys, a comic about a group of super-powered foreigners who are hired by the CIA to keep an eye on the members of the American population with gifts like theirs. Today I had the opportunity to sit down with McKay at the press junket for The Other Guys, and while the project is not yet finalized and he hasn't officially been named as the director, he was more than happy to talk about it at length with me.

Starting with the crux of the film - his involvement - I asked McKay, a lifelong comic book fan, how he came to be attached. Before he was offered the script he had read the first few issues of the comic series, and while he thought it was alright, it wasn't something that he immediately jumped on board with, particularly because he wouldn't be writing the script. Then he decided to revisit the comics:

Fans familiar with the series may note that McKay, who's previous work includes Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers, isn't the most obvious choice to helm the film. Though her certainly has experience with raunchy material, the high level violence and sexuality seen in the books is very different from McKay's previous films. Fear not, however. He has no intention of changing the content or the tone.

Also interesting to note is that McKay doesn't necessarily see the film as a single entity, but possibly the start of a franchise. The books have already established a wide universe that McKay would take pleasure in expanding in multiple films and that it could potentially have the same impact that Watchmen had when it was released back in the mid-80s and have the proper post-9/11 tone that Christopher Nolan achieved in The Dark Knight.

As I noted in my original article about McKay's involvement, one of the characters in the book, Wee Hughie Campbell, had his likeness based on Shaun of the Dead star Simon Pegg. While this was done without Pegg's permission, the actor ended up loving the book so much that wrote the forward for the first collected edition. While McKay didn't know about this until after reading the books, the story was enough of an impact: he wanted Pegg from the second he closed the back cover:

With the possibility of Pegg on the table, I then asked if they had been rolling around any ideas for the rest of the cast. Including Pegg, McKay has already mulled over four different characters, with two possibilities for the role of The Female:

When it comes to comic book adaptations, it can't be understated how much of a role passion plays. Sam Raimi, Bryan Singer and Christopher Nolan all had love for the characters that they were putting on film and it always shined through. It goes without saying that an adaptation of The Boys would be a major change from the films he typically makes. I can tell you with no uncertainty that if Adam McKay is given the reigns to this film he will not disappoint.

Check out some images below of McKay's potential casting choices. I think you'll agree that they are spot on.