James Gandolfini, Tom Hardy star in 'The Drop' – check out the trailer

James Gandolfini and Noomi Rapace star in the film 'The Drop,' which was written by 'Shutter Island' author Dennis Lehane. The movie was James Gandolfini's final film project.

If Breaking Bad has taught us anything, it’s that dealing with illegally obtained funds can be a real headache. Michaël R. Roskam’s new thriller The Drop – formerly known as Animal Rescue – is all about the flow of that crime cash and what happens when it gets disrupted.

Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and James Gandolfini star in the first trailer for The Drop, which was penned by Dennis Lehane (Shutter Island) and is based on one of his short stories. Gandolfini sadly passed away last summer, and The Drop was his final film project. Though he’s best known for his role as New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano in HBO’s The Sopranos, this crime thriller sees him playing a loan shark turned bar owner who works on the periphery of New York’s organized crime scene, safeguarding the dirty money that flows through Brooklyn.

Although the trailer (and the film’s new title) focuses on a theft of this cash, Lehane’s original short story is about Hardy’s character, Bob, finding an injured pit bull puppy in the trash and resolving to take care of it and protect it from its abusive former owner. Rapace plays Nadia, a neighbor who helps Bob take care of the dog. The story has obviously been expanded quite a bit to fill the running time of a feature film, but the grim, modern noir tone remains and The Drop looks like it could be a great addition to the crime genre.

Since playing Bane in The Dark Knight Rises Hardy has been pursuing smaller independent films such as The Drop and low-budget road thriller Locke. He’s keeping his choice of projects pretty broad, however; his upcoming roles include Max Rockatansky in Mad Max: Fury Road and Elton John in Michael Gracey’s biopic Rocketman.

The Drop arrives in theaters this fall and with a great principal cast is definitely worth checking out. Also, it  has a puppy. Everybody loves puppies.

H. Shaw-Williams blogs at Screen Rant.