Noomi Rapace Takes Lead In Swedish Boxing Biopic Opposite Ex-Husband

by Edward Davis
November 1, 2010 7:53 AM
4 Comments

Drama Will Center On Troubled Swedish Prizefighter, Bo "Boss" Högberg

Original "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" star Noomi Rapace is obviously on many lips in Hollywood. We won't recount too much her recent casting exploits, but she's a hot Swedish export because of the aforementioned drama (which David Fincher is remaking) and she recently landed a plum role in "Sherlock Holmes 2," and if Ridley Scott has his way, she'll star in his "Alien" prequel (our hunch is 20th Century Fox forces him to go with a bankable American female name and Rapace is instead given a side role in the picture).

She recently signed on to Stefan Ruzowitzky‘s vampire drama “The Last Voyage of Demeter,” alongside Ben Kingsley, and now she's attached to another project, a biopic about the colorful Swedish boxer Bo "Bosse" Högberg. She'll be playing cabaret singer Anita Lindblom, who was married to the pugilist and what's more, she'll be starring opposite her ex-husband Ola Rapace, who she recently divorced from, but obviously remains on good terms with.

According to the L.A. Times, Högberg's life is "Raging Bull"-esque legend. Coming from working-class roots, the "angry boxer" was the subject of a book by Swedish author Lars Hesslind called, "Kontringen" ("Counter Attack"). Evidently the boxer won the light-middleweight title in 1966 at the age of 28 only to lose it three weeks later to Frenchman Yolande Leveque when he actually fought the match with a broken jaw. His story is full of romance, bouts with alcoholism and legal troubles that changed -- somewhat -- when he met Lindblom.

Rapace's dance card is obviously filling up quickly, but the tentative plan is to shoot the so-far-untitled film in the summer of 2011 in Sweden and France if all goes well. The move signifies that, even if Hollywood is calling, Rapace will continue to star in home-grown European art-house productions. In case you're curious, A TV documentary about Bosse Högberg's life, "a film about love, illness and obesity knocks," was made by Tom Ahlander and aired on Swedish national television in October 2005. There's a good Swedish blog that is dedicated to the boxer and the gestating film that's worth a look too.

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4 Comments

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Simon | November 1, 2010 9:30 AMReply

It's tricky! :) All this Sweden on the Playlist is fun though! Keep up the good work.
Edward Davis | November 1, 2010 8:35 AMReply

Was just going by google translation (which was different 2 different times, neither of which had "Counter Attack"). I amended, thx.
Simon | November 1, 2010 8:31 AMReply

... which means Kontringen means the counter attack.
Simon | November 1, 2010 8:31 AMReply

Not that it matters, but just thought I'd mention that the translation of "Kontringen" is way off. Kontring means counter attack.