Director Steven Soderbergh Talks About Gina
Alex Billington did an interview with Steven Soderbergh during the Toronto Film Festival, mostly centred around his film “The Informant” which stars Matt Damon. Here’s an excerpt from the interview, where he talks about his next project with Gina Carano:
Talking a bit about Matt Damon, and I just love him in general, you work with him so much, but you also often cast unknown actresses in films like The Girlfriend Experience and yet you brought back Matt for this. I was wondering if you’ve ever considered a vice versa of that situation where you bring in someone new for a big studio feature.
Soderbergh: Well, I’m about to do that now. I’m building a whole movie around Gina Carano so I love doing that. In that case I just felt like why aren’t there more women around who can carry a gun? It seems to be a very small list and she’s really intriguing, and so the whole idea is to kind of — as we did with Sasha but on a very different scale with a very different intent. Let’s build something around her and sort of wind her in to it and take advantage of what she is and what she can do. That’s kind of fun. It can be scary and for people who are financing films it’s a sort of nervous-making proposition because there’s not a built-in movie audience for her but in this case I feel she’s actually got– she has a following and I feel like she’s someone who I think is going to emerge in some way and I feel like well, let’s be the first because if it wasn’t us, I feel like it would be somebody would be coming to her and saying, “You should be in a movie.”
Source: Firstshowing.net
Gina Carano and The Dwayne Johnson Effect
All the Mixed Martial Arts world is buzzing with the recent string of stars making their way to Hollywood, picking the bright lights and minimal bruising of the silver screen over the beatdowns and bloody lips that come with the cage.
While most fighters-turned-actors have landed supporting roles (see Jackson, Quinton) or the lead in direct-to-DVD sequels (see Couture, Randy), Gina Carano is taking things one step further, landing the lead role in Academy Award winning director Steven Soderbergh’s Knockout.
When discussing this growing trend on the most recent Watch Kalib Run Cage Cast, an interesting and very plausible analogy for Carano’s career moving forward came to mind.
Is Gina Carano set to become the Dwayne Johnson of Mixed Martial Arts?
Gina to star in new Soderbergh film, “Knockout”
Gina has won a starring role in the film “Knockout”. It will be directed by Academy Award winning director, Steven Soderbergh, who is best known for movies like “Sex, Lies, and Videotape”, “Erin Brockovich”, “Traffic”, and “Ocean’s Eleven”:
Director Steven Soderbergh has committed to next direct “Knockout,” a spy thriller that will mark the screen starring debut of Gina Carano, the mixed martial arts circuit fighter.
Relativity Media will fully finance, and Soderbergh plans a late January production start. Domestic distribution is expected to be locked quickly. Soderbergh locked in the film just as his Warner Bros. comedy, “The Informant!,” made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.The Matt Damon-starrer opens stateside on September 18.
Scripted by Lem Dobbs, “Knockout” casts Carano as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who is given a second chance to use her skills for constructive purposes. The film is a closer cousin to “La Femme Nikita” and “Kill Bill” than “Million Dollar Baby,” in that it doesn’t take place in the fight ring. Rather, Soderbergh considers the film as a flat out action film in the James Bond mold, and will shoot in locations around the world that include Ireland, Turkey and the U.S.
Honestly, this comes as a big surprise for me since I didn’t expect her to get a starring role in a movie this big so soon, considering her very limited experience and acting abilities. However, Soderbergh has been known for making stars out of bit actors like Don Cheadle, Luiz Guzman, and for (successfully) taking a chance with less experienced actors when he casted pornstar Sasha Grey in the starring role in this year’s “The Girlfriend Experience”
Source: Variety
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