For MMA fans, it’s time to make peace with the fact that Gina Carano is essentially retired. My impression from most fans is that Haywire was lame, and they predicted that Carano would find herself starring in mockbusters like The Amazing Bulk so that hopefully she’d return to the cage in order to be spared such an ignominious fate.
Thankfully for Carano, her performance was enough to convince the creators of the Fast and Furious series to give her a call. MMA fans may have found Haywire underwhelming, but most critics and folks within the movie business found Gina to be the best part of an otherwise forgettable movie despite the pedigree of those involved.
Related Links: Gina Carano to Star in New Action Movie ‘In the Blood’ | Haywire Movie Review | Gina Carano tells Conan O’Brien how MMA is like Sex |
Snobs might consider going from working with Steven Soderbergh to Justin Lin (his only respectable, and dramatic film was Better Luck Tomorrow: a wildly overrated film that nonetheless displayed a filmmaker with some semblance of promise) a step down, but not for her spotlight.
Whatever its faults, The Fast and Furious films are monkeymakers for Universal, raking in $83 million in its first weekend with the last installment, Fast Five (Universal’s best debut for any of their films, eclipsing the sequel to Jurassic Park). Taking cues from Point Break, they’ve found success in replacing Kathryn Bigelow’s talents with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker vapidly mugging for the camera inside of hot wheels. Although I admit I found the last film wildly entertaining. And no I don’t care what you think of me.
Assuming negotiations don’t fall through, Gina Carano will star alongside Vin Diesel, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, and Michelle Rodriguez (despite her character dying twice in the series). Quotes from Carano herself in a recent interview at StarPulse after the jump:
So what’s the future for Gina Carano? MMA – or acting?
GC: Well, I’ve done the fighting and honestly that’s got a real special place in my heart. There’s nothing like training for a fight and being in that moment and being in that fight and having the accomplishment of doing something like that. But now I’m at the bottom of the barrel again, now I’m having to wake up every day humbled and work my ass off and try to get better at something and it’s really refreshing for me. I’m learning a completely different craft right now and I think that’s really important to me at this time in my life. So I haven’t been able to say ‘yes, I’ve retired’ because there’s a little part of me that’s still holding on to it, but my focus right now is to make some movies and really be good at it. I want to be good at what I do and I know I can do better. I can do better than “Haywire” and I know I have a lot to give as far as action and acting. I’m really excited about it.
And finally there’s been much talk about you joining the cast for Fast And Furious 6 – are you excited about the possibility of teaming up with such a huge franchise?
GC: Absolutely. We’re still in negotiations for it, but that was a really good phone call to get. I’m really excited to work and be a part of something so big. My role would be kind of a small role, I don’t think it would be too big or anything, but it would still be a great experience to be a part of something like that. And myself and my management and my agents we have these other projects that are our babies that we’re working on. The one I was working on before I got the call for Fast 6 is called “In The Blood” and it’s a really kind of cool “Taken” movie but with a female lead – but doing Fast 6 can only help that.
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