Soderbergh Set for 'Knockout' with MMA Fighter Gina Carano
Sticking with the newcomers from all corners angle
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.
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Cool, I'm a fan of Soderbergh's work so I'm looking forward to this.
On a lighter note, Gina might as well just get into showbiz considering she got completely destroyed in her last bout.
She did not get destroyed in that fight. She certainly is one of the better looking female fighters though. ;)
i cant stand when mma fighters try to get into acting. there hasnt been a true good actor that i can think of that used to fight professional mma. and i doubt carano can play the part all she is good for is t&a and the fact that she trained mma for 4 years.
The age old question, what's easier to teach, an actress to be a MMA fighter or a MMA fighter to be an actress?
I really love the "out of the box" stuff that Soderbergh does.
Uh, she did get destroyed. She wasn't even hurting her opponent with her blows. Had that been a college football game, the score would've been 49-0…at halftime.
Bull**** she got screwed during that fight. Wait until you see them rematch.
She might as well go to showbiz. Like what the article says, she was hailed as the best, a "savage' fighter, and what happened was her in a fetal position being pummelled. Her blows to Cyborg were nothing at all, it was like a BB gun shooting at a runaway locomotive.
That must've been a run-away toy locomotive then. Gina had the technique to take her out, cyborg got lucky with that position. She'll get her back.
I do recall Cyborg not advancing towards Carano after a few of Carano's punches which indicates to me she was more than a B.B. gun. I would say more like a .22 caliber against a .50 cal. Both are still lethal in their own way.
Love everything Soderberg does. Can't wait to see Haywire.