Noomi Rapace is heading back into action.

The actress is reteaming with her "Close" director, Vicky Jewson, on the upcoming action drama "Sylvia," Variety reports. The film centers on the Sylvia Rafael, a South African-born woman who became an agent for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. Jewson wrote the script with Rupert Whitaker, and it's based on the book "Sylvia Rafael: The Life and Death of a Mossad Spy" by Ram Oren and Moti Kfir.

Rafael was famously involved in the hunt for the Black September operatives behind the murders of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. While she has been hailed as "Mossad's greatest female assassin," she was also part of the team that mistakenly murdered a waiter in Lillehammer, Norway in 1973. Rafael was convicted of planned murder, espionage, and use of forged documents and served 15 months in prison.

Jewson is particularly interested in what made the late Rafael tick. She said she is "keen to explore the unique personality of someone who put their life at risk on a daily basis and lived under a permanent dual identity." We can expect to see the film go beyond "the often glamorously perceived title of 'spy' to the gritty reality of this life and what drove her."

This will be another tough character for Rapace. She played a bodyguard in "Close," for example, as well as the hacker Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish adaptations of Stieg Larsson's Millennium series. Her recent work also includes "Stockholm" and "What Happened to Monday."

Rapace is producing "Sylvia" alongside Jewson, Whitaker, Moshe Edery, Sharon Harel, and Eitan Evan.

[via: Variety ]