Noomi Rapace may join Tom Hardy in 'Animal Rescue' and 'Child 44'

I don't know what's up with Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace, but they seem to be pretty chummy. Just look at that picture up there. Those are two very happy people, comfortable in one another's presence. They've been signing autographs together, and are featured on the cover of BLAG magazine together. Whatever's up, it maybe be extending to the big screen in two very promising future projects.

Just last month we learned that Hardy was up to star in Animal Rescue, an adaptation of the Dennis Lehane short-story and directed by Michael Roskam(Bullhead). Deadline reports that Rapace has now been offered the unspecified female lead in the crime thriller, which would have Hardy as a lonely bartender in a mob-controlled bar who rescues a puppy from a garbage can and becomes the target of the dog's abusive and unstable former owner. Hardy, Lehane, and Roskam already sounded like a perfect combination, but throw Rapace into the mix? Wow.

But that may not be all as Variety says Hardy and Rapace are also being eyed for Child 44, the Ridley Scott-produced film that recently snagged Daniel Espinosa(Safe House) for director. The Cold War-era film is based on the book by Tom Rob Smith and adapted by Richard Price(Clockers), and draws its cues from the true story of the Russian serial killer known as the Rostov Ripper. The story follows MGB agent Leo Demidov, who investigates a series of murders in Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union.

Possibly two chances to see Hardy and Rapace together on screen? Make it so.