Gina Carano

Steven Soderbergh is going from directing pornstars (Sasha Grey in The Girlfriend Experience) to mixed martial arts circuit fighters as Variety reports his next film will be a spy thriller with MMA fighter Gina Carano making her feature film debut. The film is titled Knockout and Relativity Media will fully finance with plans to begin filming in late January and expectations a distributor will be locked quickly.

The pic was written by Lem Dobbs who wrote The Limey in 1999 and Kafka in '91, both for Soderbergh. 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. Variety's Mike Fleming says 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 and is more of 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.

Carano is a Muay Thai-trained fighter (Thai film star Tony Jaa's art of expertise) and is the face of the MMA circuit despite her recent loss to Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, which was a HUGE story due to the circuit's fledgling attempts to gain traction. As Jake Rossen at ESPN wrote, noting reactions to Carano's loss, "Carano was not as savage as advertised, damaging both her marketability and the quality of attention afforded to her sport; there is not enough female talent to support a recurring female division." Of course, the biggest issue is the fact Carano was the face of the industry… the only face. Never a good marketing plan.

Another interesting part of this story is that Soderbergh has waived his upfront salary and will share any ownership stake with Relativity Media. This is something that has become a larger topic as of late with recent economic woes as well as talk of the inability of big names to draw audiences on their own. Of course, this is a conversation typicaly reserved for major movie stars the likes of Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts, but as anyone will notice during the promotion of Soderbergh's upcoming September 18 release The Informant!, the fact he directed the Ocean's movies is a major part of the marketing. Which is to say, Soderbergh definitely has clout and his resume is highly bankable.

Related post categories: Coming Up Next : Gina Carano, Knockout, Steven Soderbergh

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