Sunday 18 October 2015

Interview - Haywire star Gina Carano

Source: THR
Gina Carano was a top MMA fighter before being thrust straight into the Hollywood limelight with the lead role in Steven Soderbergh's Haywire, supported by a superb cast consisting of the likes of Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor and Bill Paxton, amongst many others. We were lucky enough to catch up with Gina whilst she was preparing for her upcoming role in Fast Six. Here's what she had to say when I threw some questions her way.

Filmoria: First of all, congratulations on your success in Haywire. How did you get involved in the role of Mallory Kane?
Gina Carano: Steven Soderbergh actually saw me fighting on CBS and then gave my management and agent a call. I'd just lost my first fight to Cyborg so I was just kinda depressed and he took the train up from LA and we had a four hour lunch. He asked if I wanted to do a movie and I was like, 'yeah sure' and then he went on to say he didn't have a script, producers or actors confirmed and explained him and writer Lem Dobbs would get working on it. It was incredible how fast it moved. The script ended up being good for me as Mallory is nothing like me and then he (Soderbergh) had me train with a secret service guy for seven months instead of an acting coach.

Filmoria: It must have been an overwhelming experience being touted by a top Hollywood director. How did you feel when you got the call and met up?
Gina Carano: I'm from the fighting world so I didn't really know who Steven Soderbergh was. I didn't really know anyone's names so I was very clueless on Hollywood. Since then, I have received the full education, believe me, and after it's all said and done, I look back and can't believe he did what he did and I couldn't be more grateful.

Filmoria: You also had a fantastic cast to work with. How welcoming were they? Did they teach you anything?
Gina Carano: They are some of the most beautiful people I have ever met in my life. I adore every single one of them and they treated me with such respect and with open arms. They all really took care of me and I took care of them in the fight scenes (laughs), it was a nice trade off!

Filmoria: Speaking of fight scenes, some are very brutal in the film, especially the opening sequence with Channing Tatum. 
Gina Carano: He's a big guy (Tatum), he's not small at all and he just slams my face into a table and it's like America's Sweethearts! He's been a fan of MMA for a long time and was so excited to get in there and train for the fight scenes, he also love loved to taunt me, he wanted a story to tell (laughs). One of my favourite fight scenes is the hotel scene with Michael Fassbender, I think that is really special. That was the very first fight scene that we shot and that was a very cool scene.

Filmoria: I'm very envious of the great cast you got to work with.
Gina Carano: (On the whole cast) They were all so incredibly open, all turned up with a smile on their faces, worked hard and didn't mind getting physical. I felt on a high the whole time I was filming, surrounded by these incredible people. (On McGregor) Probably one of the loveliest people I have ever met in my life. (On Fassbender) He was the first person I acted with and he's so special, you just get stuck watching him. He was on so many different levels so quickly I would get stuck. I didn't know who he was, I just knew he was the guy with the big smile from 300!

Fimoria: Your next film is Fast Six, how did you get involved in that project?
Gina Carano: We were actually working on a different film and we got a call, which we knew was a possibility, so the film got pushed to a later date and now we are doing Fast Six. It's a cool, big budget film and completely different from Haywire and it will give me good experience and knowledge of the range of Hollywood. We are close to signing the contract now and I think it starts shooting in July.

Filmoria: Can you shed any light on your character?
Gina Carano: (laughs) I'm not sure what I can say! It's in very early development so I'm not sure I'm allowed.

Filmoria: Obviously Fast Six is another film where you will be working with another strong cast. Is there anyone specific you are mostly looking forward to working with?
Gina Carano: I'm really looking forward to working with all of them, the women and the men. I didn't have a lot of females in Haywire so it will be a nice change. Everybody's said nothing but good things about The Rock and I'm looking forward to meeting him because he's done a fantastic job with his career going from athlete into acting and I really respect that. I've always been a Vin Diesel fan and my favourite film of his is Pitch Black. Also Michelle Rodriguez, and I know Luke Evans has just signed on and I'm a fan of his too. It's going to be a beautiful experience for me.

Filmoria: You mentioned Michelle Rodriguez, can we look forward to a head-to-head with her at all?
Gina Carano: (laughs) I don't know if I can say. Maybe.

Filmoria: We touched upon Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Do you look at his career and see his path as one you would want to follow?
Gina Carano: I think it's important in any career to pave your own way. When I got into fighting I didn't look at anybody and how they were doing, I just kept doing what was natural for me. I like what The Rock has done and respect him but I'd love to stay true to myself.

Filmoria: Finally, other than Fast Six, do you have any other future projects in the pipeline?
Gina Carano: We were working on In The Blood before Fast Six came along and pushed it back. It's similar to Taken and is something I'm really looking forward to filming eventually when we get our schedules worked out. We have a bunch of projects we can hopefully dive into after Fast Six.

Filmoria: Would you ever consider a return as Mallory Kane in another Haywire movie?
Gina Carano: I'd love to because I now understand more about getting into character. I don't know whether it would happen though, we will see. Maybe Steven Soderbergh will wake up one day and say 'hey, let's do it again.'

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