Noomi Rapace has always been fearless, and has consistently played fearless characters on the screen. Whether it’s Lisbeth Salander, defining that rebel on the big screen in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or Elizabeth Shaw in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, one of seven identical sisters in What Happened to Monday, Rapace is an actress who isn’t afraid to be bold, which is why she has a legion of fans across the world, myself included. Rapace takes on another challenge in Hot Spot, playing an activist cyber witch in Agnieszka Smoczynska’s trippy sci-fi thriller.
In Hot Spot, society is controlled by a sentient Artificial Intelligence known as “The Head”, which is in charge of every aspect of human life. Refuse to plug in, and face the consequences. When a murder takes place at a refugee compound, The Head sets a detective on the case, only for him to encounter Rapace’s Rana, a cyber witch who forces him to rethink everything he thought he knew about the world and himself.
This was my second time speaking with Noomi Rapace, and once again I found her engaging and really invested in the subject matter, which is about the prevalence of AI in our own lives. I also spoke with Hot Spot director Smoczynska and Rapace’s co-star, Andrzej Konopka, about the film’s wild ’80s aesthetic, the cool vintage costumes and soundtrack, and influences from other classic sci-fi movies.
Hot Spot is in theaters now. Check out the interview below and my review here!
