Top 200 Most Anticipated Films for 2014: #80. Michael R. Roskam’s The Drop

The Drop

Director: Michael R. Roskam
Writer: Dennis Lehane
Producers: Chernin Entertainment’s Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark, Mike Larocca
U.S. Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Cast: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini, Matthias Schoenaerts, John Ortiz, Ann Dowd, James Frecheville

Michael R. Roskam’s English language debut is a no-brainer entry on this list – after all, his feature debut, the unshakable Bullhead was a hardcore revenge film that even found the difficult palates from the Academy could appreciate for some Best Foreign language category nomination love. The newly minted The Drop which will likely feature a pissed off Tom Hardy (look for comparisons to be made between him and Matthias Schoenaerts) might actually become the best of Dennis Lehane’s overrated book to film adaptations.

Gist: This centers on a Boston bartender (Hardy) who rescues a dog from a garbage can. This act of good will gets him into more trouble than he can imagine, when the pooch’s deranged former owner comes after him. He also gets caught in a criminal conspiracy at the mafia-controlled bar he works at.

Release Date: Having recently pegged this with a September 19th release, Fox Searchlight folks are probably eyeing a Venice-TIFF-Telluride release showing.

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