Noomi Rapace is at a turning point.

I don't consider it the end-all be-all goal of actors to work in giant Hollywood movies, but that's often how it is treated.  Think of the same basic cycle we see play out over and over again.  Someone plays an interesting role in an international release and then suddenly they're in every movie released by Hollywood for about a year, and then if they don't have a hit, they're gone again, back to the world of foreign-language movies.  It's treated like a major league/minor league situation, whether that's true or not, and it's brutal to watch some of these very accomplished actors get chewed up by the Hollywood machine.

"Sherlock Holmes - A Game Of Shadows" is the Hollywood debut of Rapace, who gained international attention playing Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish adaptations of the "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" series.  Her work in those films has earned her some staunch supporters, and even if I'm not among them, I was curious to see how she was used in the film.  She's also in "Prometheus," the Ridley Scott "Alien" sidequel that's coming out next summer, so one could say she's getting a fair shot and then some.

In our interview, we talked about the making of "Sherlock," what it's like to make a movie like "Prometheus" that's shrouded in secrecy, and her feelings about there being a new Lisbeth Salander out there in the world somewhere.  It's a short interview, but dense, and she seemed to me to be fairly centered considering all the madness surrounding her these days.

Even so, I hope that Rapace is renting her home in LA and didn't buy, because this is a seriously fickle business, and for every Antonio Banderas or Penelope Cruz who survives and thrives here, there are a dozen or more Franka Potentes, good actors who are chewed up and spit out within a handful of films.

Only time will tell which fate is in store for Rapace.

"Sherlock Holmes - A Game Of Shadows" is in theaters now.