Actually, the drama “The Secrets We Keep - Shadows of the Past” was supposed to come to the cinema last year, instead it has now been released on DVD and Blu-ray. For leading actress and producer Noomi Rapace, who became famous in 2009 as Lisbeth Salander in "Verblendung" and was also seen in films like "Prometheus", "Dead Man Down" or "The Drop - Cash", the film about a Romanian, who thinks she recognizes her former tormentor in a small US town after the Second World War, a very personal meaning. At least that's what the Swede, born in 1979, who has lived in London for years, tells us on the phone.

Ms. Rapace, you are not only involved in your current film "The Secrets We Keep" as the leading actress, but also as a producer. The same is true for “Lamb”, which will be released in January. Tired of waiting for scripts at home and did you take matters into your own hands?

To be honest, I've always been a very proactive person.

When I was 19 years old and worked a lot in the theater and actually had no experience or knowledge, I started to get involved on all fronts.

I exchanged ideas with the dramaturges as well as with the stage designers, introduced actors and directors to one another.

Which some probably found a little presumptuous.

But I've always enjoyed connecting exciting people and getting great projects off the ground.

So it was only a matter of time before I do the same with film.

And what do you choose, which projects do you invest time and energy in?

It doesn't always have to be one that I want to play in.

And that was exactly the case with “The Secrets We Keep”.

I came across a lot of questions in this script that I wanted to ask myself both as a producer and as an actress.

How do you build a bridge between vengeance and forgiveness?

Can you find healing as a broken person?

These are topics that seem enormously important to me in times of growing hatred and increasing isolation.

And this story offered a way to break it down to a personal level and thus make it accessible.

Was it your idea that the Maja you played is not a Jew, as originally planned, but instead a Roma?

Maybe the director I chose, Yuval Adler, had the idea.

In any case, it sprang from our conversations together.

When he came on board and revised the script, I was just shooting the series "Jack Ryan" in New York.

Whenever I was free, we talked on the phone about our family stories and gradually moved the figure of Maja closer and closer to me.  

You yourself have Roma roots on your father's side, don't you?

Exactly, he was half Spanish, half Roma. I've met him maybe seven times in my life. There are many stories about his life and origins. I know for sure that he was a flamenco singer - and that his mother was probably Roma. Even if I didn't know him well, I always felt a special connection with this part of my life. I was particularly concerned with the history and situation of the Roma in Europe while working on “Sherlock Holmes: Spiel im Schatten”. At that time, Hans Zimmer was responsible for the music, and he was very into the subject. In any case, I've wanted to tell a story for a long time that relates to my Roma roots, so I was very happy that we found an opportunity in this case.