Gina Carano is pretty hot stuff, and after a brief stint on TV throwing overweight secretaries and grandmas around as a fake Gladiator and small roles in direct-to-DVD action movies, she’s now ready for her Hollywood close-up. The MMA fighter will make her feature film debut as a leading lady in Steven Soderbergh’s spy action thriller “Knockout”, which is being described as a cross between a James Bond movie and Luc Besson’s “La Femme Nikita”.
Word is, this will be a straightforward action movie by Soderbergh, who has such a good feel about “Knockout’s” box office potential that he’s waved his upfront fee to direct, and will instead take a share in the film, which means if it makes money, he’ll make money. And if it doesn’t, well, there’s always a sequel to “The Girlfriend Experience”, tentatively titled “The Shotgun Wedding Experience”. I hear the script is simply terrifying to men everywhere.
According to Variety, “Knockout” will star Muay Thai babe Carano as a girl with martial arts skills from the wrong side of the tracks. She is given a second chance to use her ability to punch people in the face and kick them in the ribs for more “constructive purposes” as a spy. And like James Bond’s 500 films, “Knockout” will move beyond the U.S. borders, with locations in Ireland and Turkey.
The plan is to surround the novice actress with a stable of known names who will, one presumes, help her to find her mark and all that other acting stuff. Soderbergh will direct the film from a script by Lem Dobbs, whose previous credits include the Alex Proyas sci-fi actioner “Dark City” and the action drama “The Limey”, which was also directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Relativity Media will produce the film, with shooting scheduled for January 2010.
When an MMA match goes badly, Gina Carano has back-up.
