James Gandolfini returned to the crime arena for The Drop, the final film he completed before his shocking death last summer. Like last year’s surprise indie hit Enough Said, this also pairs him with some top-shelf talent, although the subject is very different.
The film was once called Animal Rescue, but distributor Fox Searchlight must have decided on a different title that better evokes the story.
It centers on a New York bar run by Gandolfini, and a bartender played by Tom Hardy, that acts as a “drop bar,” where criminals exchange their dirty money. There’s a heist that goes wrong, forcing Gandolfini back into a criminal life. Noomi Rapace co-stars as a woman trying to get Hardy out of that life.
The film has added pedigree behind the camera as well. It is based on Mystic River writer Dennis Lehane’s short story Animal Rescue and Lehane also wrote the script. It was directed by Michael R. Roskam, who directed the Oscar nominated Bullhead.
Gandolfini had several projects in the works when he died last year and appeared in Enough Said with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. He is best known for starring in The Sopranos.