International Features Editor

Noomi Rapace has previewed elements of her upcoming project Mother , in which she will play the revered and "complex" Catholic saint. The Swedish star, who is currently a jury member at the Sarajevo Film Festival, has been prepping for the indie project with director Teona Strugar Mitevska ( God Exists , Her Name is Petrunya ) and noted that in between watching films at the festival, she's also been "reading a lot about" Mother Teresa.

"I've been reading her letters, listening to her, doing research," Rapace told Deadline. "There's also a lot of negativity written about her, so I'm filling myself with everything I can and trying to find who she is to me and in conversations with Teona, we find our Mother Teresa."

Rapace stressed that the film, Strugar Mitevska's English-language debut, will not be a biopic, but rather will examine seven pivotal days in the saint's life as she decides to leave the Loreto Entally Convent in Calcutta to start her own Missionaries of Charity.