Strikeforce's Gina Carano lands lead role in Steven Soderbergh film

[Rappy Veteran]

Strikeforce's Gina Carano is joining the ever-growing list of fighter-thespians.

According to a report from the Hollywood news and trade outlet Variety, Carano has landed the lead role in the upcoming Steven Soderbergh film, "Knockout," a spy thriller tentatively slated for a late 2010 release.

Soderbergh is a well-known director and Oscar winner who's directed hits such as "Traffic," "Ocean's Eleven," "Erin Brockovich" and "Sex, Lies, and Videotape."

"Knockout" marks the first major role for Carano, who had a small role in the upcoming release "Blood and Bone," which centers on an underground fight scene. She also appeared on NBC's remake of "American Gladiators," though the role was more of a competitor than actor. Although this marks Carano's first major film, Soderbergh said he plans to surround her with veteran actors in the cast.

According to Variety: "'[Knockout]' 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."

Carano most recently competed in August, when she suffered her first career loss in a heavily hyped Strikeforce title fight with Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos.

She remains arguably the most famous fighter in women's MMA, but with "Knockout" set to begin production early next year, she could be out of action for an extended period of time. (Of course, Strikeforce has already dealt with a similar problem with middleweight champ Cung Le, whose Hollywood career has kept him out of the cage for 17 months.)

MMA Junkie

[tiagosilva29]

This is keep her away from Cyborg for a while! :p

[revvo]

I don't care if she's overrated, she's hot as ****

And am I the only one who read that as Steven Spielberg?

[Rappy Veteran]

Here is the first official image from Steven Soderbergh?s upcoming action thriller Haywire. The image shows off MMA fighter Gina Carano blasting away with a machine gun. The film also stars Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Bill Paxton, Michael Angarano, Matthieu Kassovitz and Antonio Banderas.

[D. S. Veteran]

Let's get this out of the way. Gina looks FATTIE FAT FAT FATTIE. I blame the cathering company.

[Colin.B]

I blame layers of clothing.

Here's the trailer:

[rajputwarrior]

I blame layers of clothing.

Here's the trailer:

movie has a solid cast...

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

so its a typical burned spy film only this time with a female spy?

[rajputwarrior]

so its a typical burned spy film only this time with a female spy?

not this time... just this year's version

angelina did it last year...

[ahhell]

not this time... just this year's version

angelina did it last year...

Ugh. She looks like a tranny in that pic.

[D. S. Veteran]

Ugh. She looks like a tranny in that pic.

No spoilers!

Gina should be back in the cage getting her pretty little face smashed in, not prancing around doing movies. :rofl:

She'll never go back to MMA unless she absolutely has to.

[Matrix XII]

She's the only reason I'd watch womens MMA.

[Growled Member]

She's definitely in a aptly named movie.

[Anibal P]

So basically she's the next Cynthia Rothrock?

[Colin.B]

I'll wait til I see the movie to pass judgement. She may actually be a good actor. Soderbergh is a capable director for the most part and this looks entertaining enough. Yes the story is not the most original one but even a common story can still be done with a certain creative style and have high entertainment value. Plus she's still hot.