Child 44 is mid-production, but circumstances has resulted in a last minute addition to the cast, with Vincent Cassel stepping into a role that Philip Seymour Hoffman has departed. Deadline reports the news but doesn’t say exactly why Hoffman left. Let’s hope it’s not due to a relapse of the substance abuse issues he sought help for earlier this year.
Based on Tom Rob Smith’s novel, with Safe House helmer Daniel Espinosa directing, the Soviet Union set thriller is about a military police officer named Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy) who has to investigate a string of brutal child murders that took place during the Stalin era. As he begins to dig further and further into the case, he realises that his government is keeping a sharp eye on every move he makes, and refuses to admit that the killings are actually happening.
Noomi Rapace, Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Jason Clarke and Paddy Considine also star. It’ll be in cinemas next year.