Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace recently made Animal Rescue together and they’re planning to team again for Child 44 later this year. Gary Oldman and Joel Kinnaman have already joined them in the film, and now they have some more company, as TheWrap reports that Paddy Considine and Sweden’s Fares Fares are in talks to star in the movie.

Child 44 is set in 1950s Russia, with Hardy as a Soviet military police officer who becomes the target of his suspicious government while he’s investigating a string of child murders. Joel Kinnaman will play the killer responsible for these brutal deaths, while Noomi Rapace is Hardy’s wife. Oldman meanwhile is the head of police who becomes suspicious of Hardy’s character and starts investigating him.

There’s no news on exactly who Considine will play, but Fares will be one of Hardy’s trusted allies. Daniel Espinosa (Safe House) is set to direct.

Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman must like working together, as they’re set to team up for the fourth time in two years for Child 44, according to THR. Oldman joins Hardy, Noomi Rapace and Joel Kinnaman in the movie, which Daniel Espinosa is set to direct.

Child 44 is set in 1950s Russia, with Hardy as a Soviet military police officer who becomes the target of his suspicious government while he’s investigating a string of child murders. Joel Kinnaman will play the killer responsible for these brutal deaths, while Noomi Rapace is Hardy’s wife. Oldman meanwhile is the head of police who becomes suspicious of Hardy’s character and starts investigating him.

Oldman and Hardy previously starred together in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Lawless and The Dark Knight Rises, although they didn’t actually get much screentime together in any of those movies. Perhaps Child 44 will remedy that.

Tom Hardy & Noomi Rapace are spending much of this year together, making Animal Rescue and Child 44. Now they’ve got a new co-star for the latter, as Joel Kinnaman is in talks to join the movie. Kinnaman will reunite with director Daniel Espinosa for the film, having previously worked together on Snabba Cash and last year’s action-thriller, Safe House.

Child 44 is set in 1950s Russia, with Hardy as a Soviet military police officer who becomes the target of his suspicious government while he’s investigating a string of child murders. Joel Kinnaman will play the killer responsible for these brutal deaths. Noomi Rapace is Hardy’s wife.

Daniel Espinosa will direct from a screenplay by Richard Price, adapted from the Tom Rob Smith novel of the same name. Shooting will start this summer. (Source: THR)

In the 90s you couldn’t move for John Grisham adaptations, but we haven’t had one since Christmas With The Kranks in 2004. There’s been a lot of talk in the last couple of years about new movies based on his books, but none have hit cinemas yet.

Now one more possible adaptation is moving forward, with THR reporting that Safe House director Daniel Espinosa signing up to helm the The Racketeer, based on the Grisham novel that was released last October.

The tale is about a former attorney who is serving time in a federal penitentiary. When a judge is murdered at his cabin and the contents of his safe are empty, this imprisoned lawyer is the only man who knows intimate details of the crime. He uses this knowledge to try and get revenge against those who put him behind bars in the first place.

There’s no news on when the movie version might go into production.

Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace certainly seem keen to work together, as a couple of months ago they both signed up to star in Animal Rescue, and now Variety reports the duo are also teaming up for Child 44.

News of the movie first emerged back in 2007 when Ridley Scott was attached to direct. Scott will no longer helm the movie, but is is still planning to produce. Instead Daniel Espinosa (Safe House) will take the director’s chair from a screenplay by Richard Price, adapted from the Tom Rob Smith novel.

The movie is set in 1950s Russia and centres on a former Soviet Police member who investigates a series of child murders but finds himself being targeted by his own government. Tom Hardy will play the Soviet officer, with Noomi Rapace as his wife, who pretends to be the loving partner, but is really concealing her true feelings.

Hardy and Rapace are going to be spending a lot of time together, as the Dennis Lehane adaptation Animal Rescue starts shooting in March, with Child 44 hoping to begin production in Budapest this May.

While studios normally decide whether to develop a sequel fairly soon after a movie is released, it’s taken Universal a while to put a follow-up to Safe House into development. Now THR reports they’re moving forward with one.

David Guggenheim, who wrote the script for the first film while working as an editor at Us Weekly, is returning to pen as-yet-untitled sequel. Scott Stuber is also back as producer via his Universal-based Bluegrass Films.

Apparently Ryan Reynolds is open to returning as CIA agent Matt Weston, who in the first film got caught up trying to protect/take down accused traitor Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington). No deal has been made with Reynolds as yet, and there’s no news on the story for the sequel either. Universal apparently wants Washington involved in a follow-up as well, although those who’ve seen Safe House may be wondering how (if it’s a prequel, which is a possibility, it would be easier to explain).

Whether Daniel Espinosa will be back to direct is also unclear.

Ridley Scott signs up for a lot of movies – far more than he can ever actually make – and so many of them end up going to other directors. That seems to be happening with Child 44, which Scott was attached to helm but Deadline reports now has Safe House director Child 44 attached.

The film will be based on British novelist Tom Rob Smith’s chilling crime novel, which focuses on a string of heinous child murders. The book was inspired by the shocking and true story of Andrei Chikatilo, a Ukrainian serial killer known as the Rostov Ripper who was prosecuted and executed for committing 52 murders within the USSR’s borders. Making these crimes even more terrifying is the cultural zeitgeist that allowed him to remain hidden for so long.

While Espinosa is also attached to The Outsider, he’s likely to have to prioritise Child 44, as Lionsgate wants to shoot it next year.

Daniel Espinosa was already a darling on the foreign film circuit for Snabba Cash, and now he’s scored a big mainstream hit with the recent Safe House. As a result he’s got his pick of projects, and so has booked a new movie in the form of The Outsider, with Warner Bros. currently hammering out a deal with the director to take on the action thriller, according to Variety.

Written by Andrew Baldwin, the gritty flick is about a POW in Osaka in WWII who goes to work for the Yakuza. Not a huge amount more is known about the movie, but it’s definitely a promising set-up.

No offers have gone out to actors yet, but Warner Bros. is apparently eyeing Michael Fassbender to star. That’s not necessarily saying much, as Fassbender’s at the top of the list for half the projects going in Hollywood, but don’t be shocked if he does end up starring.